UPI reports that the International Space Station has had to change its orbit to avoid being hit by orbiting space debris from a satellite destroyed by China.
In January China had used a ground-based missile to hit one its aging weather satellites. The United States filed a diplomatic protest because the weather satellite used approximately the same orbit as its spy satellites. Canada, Australia and Japan also objected.
Russian and the U.S. are both tracking fragments from the destroyed weather satellite. U.S. officials said they have tracked 525 large fragments and had recorded between 500 and 600 instances of debris passing within three miles of orbiting satellites. However it should be noted that the international space station is in no danger of being hit by any of these fragments.
In January China had used a ground-based missile to hit one its aging weather satellites. The United States filed a diplomatic protest because the weather satellite used approximately the same orbit as its spy satellites. Canada, Australia and Japan also objected.
Russian and the U.S. are both tracking fragments from the destroyed weather satellite. U.S. officials said they have tracked 525 large fragments and had recorded between 500 and 600 instances of debris passing within three miles of orbiting satellites. However it should be noted that the international space station is in no danger of being hit by any of these fragments.
posted by Shaun A. Saunders
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