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May 13, 2021
The Russian Automated Warning System for Hazardous Situations in Near-Earth Space (ASPOS OKP) in 2020 recorded 220 dangerous encounters between the ISS and space debris. This was stated in an interview with TASS by the head of the information and analytical center of TsNIIMash (part of the State Corporation "Roscosmos") Igor Bakaras.
“In 2020, 220 dangerous encounters with the ISS were recorded and more than 4,000 with domestic spacecraft [spacecraft]. In 2021, the spacecraft orbits were not corrected, ”Bakaras said. The specialist added that, on average, about 4.5 thousand dangerous encounters with Russian spacecraft are recorded annually.
Space debris. Animation Credit: ESA
According to the head of the information and analytical center, for example, in 2020 the ISS had to adjust its orbit twice to avoid collision with space debris. One of the maneuvers was carried out on 23 September. “Due to the high probability of disruption to normal operation due to a possible collision with a fragment of the destruction of the operational element of the Japanese N-2A rocket, the ISS orbit was corrected,” he said.
Items lost by astronauts during spacewalks also become objects of space debris, the specialist explained. After a while, they burn up in the atmosphere. All these objects are entered into the database of the main information and analytical center of the Automated System for Warning of Dangerous Situations in Near-Earth Space (ASPOS OKP).
International Space Station (ISS). Image Credit: NASA
“Such objects also pose a threat to the ISS and other spacecraft, as well as any object of space debris, the orbit of which can intersect with the orbits of spacecraft. The danger for the ISS is quite low and exists only at the initial stage, in the future such objects fall below the ISS orbit and do not pose a threat to it”, Bakaras concluded.
Read the full interview: https://www.roscosmos.ru/31034/
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/31047/
Animation (mentioned), Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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