Fergie's Tech Blog

NASA's Terra Satellite Moved to Avoid Chinese ASAT Debris

Brian Berger writes on Space.com:

Flight controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., had to maneuver the Terra environmental spacecraft in late June to avoid orbital debris created by the Jan. 11 test of a Chinese anti-satellite (A-Sat) weapon.

NASA officials said July 5 that the event marked the first time the agency has had to move one of its spacecraft to avoid a potential collision with debris created by the controversial Chinese A-Sat test.

A defunct Chinese weather satellite, Fengyun 1-C, was orbiting at an altitude of roughly 528 miles (850 kilometers) when it was destroyed Jan. 11 after being struck by a kinetic energy A-Sat weapon, producing a cloud of debris that is being tracked by the U.S. military's Space Surveillance Network.

posted by Fergie @ 7/07/2007 11:14:00 AM