List of space debris producing events

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Major contributors to space debris include the explosion of upper stages and satellite collisions.[1]

Overview[]

There were 190 known satellite breakups between 1961 and 2006.[2] By 2015, the total had grown to 250 on-orbit fragmentation events.[3]

As of 2012 there were an estimated 500,000 pieces of debris in orbit,[4] with 300,000 pieces below 2000 km (LEO).[1] Of the total, about 20,000 are tracked.[1] Also, about sixteen old Soviet nuclear space reactors are known to have released an estimated 100,000 liquid metal (NaK) droplets 800–900 km up,[5] which range in size from 1 – 6 cm.[5]

The greatest risk to space missions is from untracked debris between 1 and 10 cm in size.[1] Large pieces can be tracked and avoided, and impact from smaller pieces are usually survivable.[1]

Top debris creation events[]

Top debris creation events, January 2016[6]
Object Year Pieces Notes
Fengyun-1C 2007 3,428 Intentional collision (ASAT)
Kosmos 2251 2009 1,668 Accidental collision with Iridium 33
STEP 2 Rocket Body 1996 754 Accidental explosion[citation needed]
Iridium 33 2009 628 Accidental collision with Kosmos 2251
Kosmos 2421 2008 509 Disintegrated[citation needed]
SPOT 1 Rocket Body 1986 498 Accidental explosion[citation needed]
OV2-1 Rocket Body 1965 473 Accidental explosion[citation needed]
CBERS 1 Rocket Body 2000 431 Accidental explosion[citation needed]
Nimbus 4 Rocket Body 1970 376 Accidental explosion[citation needed]
TES Rocket Body 2001 372 Accidental explosion[citation needed]
Solwind 1985 >250 Intentional collision (ASAT) [7]

Recent events[]

On 3 February 2015, the 13th DMSP satellite of the US government—DMSP-F13, launched in 1995—exploded while in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit leaving a debris field of at least 43 objects. The US Air Force Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California is monitoring the expanding debris field, and "will issue conjunction warnings if necessary."[8]


Recent events
Date Object International Designation Cause Total Pieces Pieces in Orbit Reentered Pieces as of February 2020
August 31, 2018 Centaur V upper stage [9] 2014-055B Unknown [9] 80 80 0
December 22, 2018 ORBCOMM FM-16 [9] 1998-046E Energetic fragmentation; Probably caused by left over propellent [10] 12 10 2
January 24, 2019 Microsat-R [10] 2019-006A ASAT (Anti-Satellite) weapon system test [10] 125 16 109
February 6, 2019 H2-A 202 Rocket Body [9] 2018-084L Unknown; Third known breakup of an H-2A Rocket Body[9] 6 5 1
February 6, 2019 H2-A 202 Payload Adapter [9] 2018-084E Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown[9] 3 3 0
April 2019 Centaur V Rocket Body[10] 2018-079B Energetic fragmentation event; Cause Unknown[10] 64 64 0
May 7, 2019 Titan IIIC Transtage rocket body[11] 1976-023F Energetic fragmentation event by caused the overheating of leftover anhydrous hydrazine(N2H4) Mono Propellant [11] ?[note 1] ? ?
August 13, 2019 Ariane 42P third stage rocket body[11] 1992-052D Unknown [11] 7 7 0
August 19, 2019 SOZ (Sistema Obespecheniya Zapuska) ullage motor from a Proton Block DM fourth stage[11] 2010-041H Energetic fragmentation event; caused by left over fuel in the ullage motor. 30th fragmentation event of a SOZ unit. 34 intact units remain in orbit[11] ?[note 2] ? ?
March 18, 2021 Yunhai-1 02[12] 2019-063A Accidental collision with a fragment from the Zenit-2 rocket body that launched Tselina-2 in 1996.[12] 37 37 0
  1. ^ No fragments have entered the SSN catalog as 2/4/20
  2. ^ Due to difficulties in tracking objects in deep space elliptical orbits it is unknown how many fragments were generated

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e The Threat of Orbital Debris and Protecting NASA Space Assets from Satellite Collisions (2009)
  2. ^ AN ANALYSIS OF RECENT MAJOR BREAKUPS IN THE LOW EARTH ORBIT REGION
  3. ^ "ESA Experts Assess Risk from Exploded Satellite". www.esa.int. ESA. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  4. ^ "DARPA wants army of networked amateur astronomers to watch sky for space junk, aliens". Stratrisks. 2012-11-14. Archived from the original on 2012-11-19.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b IEEE – The Growing Threat of Space Debris Archived 2013-01-27 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Meador, P. Anz (April 2016). "Top Ten Satellite Breakups Reevaluated". Orbital Debris Quarterly News. 20 (1 & 2). Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  7. ^ December 2016, Space com Staff 21. "The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever". Space.com. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  8. ^ Berger, Brian; Gruss, Mike (27 February 2015). "20-year-old Military Weather Satellite Apparently Exploded in Orbit". Space News. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g National Aeronautics and Space Administration (May 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e National Aeronautics and Space Administration (August 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f National Aeronautics and Space Administration (November 2019). "Orbital Debris Quarterly News" (PDF). Space News. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Wall, Mike (17 August 2021). "Space collision: Chinese satellite got whacked by hunk of Russian rocket in March". Space.com. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
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