(ESA/ID&Sense/ONiRiXEL https://bit.ly/3YgkyGy)
The Russian satellite Kosmos-2499, which was considered a military inspector satellite, collapsed in orbit on January 4, 2023.
The US 18th Space Defense Division is monitoring the 85 wreckage.
Most of the satellite fragments are in orbits at an altitude of about 1200 kilometers.
The Kosmos-2499 satellite was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in May 2014 using the Rokot rocket and the Breeze-KM upper stage.
The satellite was launched along with three other sats of the same class: Kosmos-2496, Kosmos-2497 and Kosmos-2498.
Their purpose and type were not reported , but bloggers and amateur astronomers identified them as communication satellites of the Rodnik (Strela-3M) series.
Initially, the withdrawal of the fourth device with the number 2499 was not reported, and it appeared in the catalogs as "Object E".
The US military considered it to be a space debris object, but then discovered that it was maneuvering in orbit, approaching the Breeze-KM.
Then, radio amateurs discovered that it was transmitting data over the air.
Now about 36,500 pieces of space junk of at least 10 centimeters wide are flying around Earth.
The most dangerous of all is that, those are only the objects big enough to be tracked, there is a lot we don’t know.
Sources:
Space.com: https://www.space.com/russian-satellite-kosmos-2499-breakup-earth-orbit
Indianexpress: https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/russian-satellite-kosmos-2499-breaks-up-in-orbit-8432198/
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#science #space #satellites #russia #spaceforce #news #nftmc
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