Kosmos 2421
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Kosmos 2421 (Cosmos 2421) was a Russian spy satellite launched in 2006, but began fragmenting in early 2008.[1] It also had the Konus-A science payload designed by Ioffe Institute to detect gamma-ray bursts.[2] Three separate fragmentation events produced about 500 pieces of trackable debris.[1] About half of those had already re-entered Earth's atmosphere by the fall of 2008.[3]
Satellite life span[edit]
Kosmos 2421 was launched on June 25, 2006, on a Tsyklon-2 from LC90 at Baykonur.[4] Other designations are 2006-026A and NORAD 29247.[4] It is a US-PU/Legenda type satellite, and was in a 65 degree, 93 minute circular orbit 410–430 km up.[4] The main body of the satellite finally re-entered and burned up on 19 August 2010.[5]
There have been 190 known satellite breakups between 1961 and 2006.[6] Kosmos 2421 was one of the top ten space junk producing events up to 2012.[7] There was estimated to be 500,000 pieces of debris in orbit at that time.[7]
Space station maneuver[edit]
On August 27, 2008, the International Space Station (ISS) fired the boosters of the Jules Verne automated transfer vehicle to avoid debris fragment 33246 from the remains of Kosmos 2421.[8] Without a change, that piece was predicted to have a 1 in 72 chance of hitting the station.[8] Kosmos 2421 had been in a higher orbit than ISS, so when ISS's apogee (high point of orbit) surpassed the debris field's perigee (low point of orbit), many fragments would cross ISS's orbit.[8]
See also[edit]
- Space debris
- Fengyun-1C
- 2009 satellite collision (Kosmos 2251 and Iridium 33)
- Kosmos 954
- List of space debris producing events
References[edit]
- ^ a b Orbital Debris Quarterly News - Volume 12 Issue 3
- ^ "US-A/P ocean-surveillance satellites". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
- ^ Podvig, Pavel (2008-03-20). "Cosmos-2421 completed its mission". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces.
- ^ a b c Podvig, Pavel (2006-06-25). "Launch of Cosmos-2421 naval reconnaissance satellite". Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces.
- ^ "Cosmos 2421". Archived from the original on 2017-03-10. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
- ^ "AN ANALYSIS OF RECENT MAJOR BREAKUPS IN THE LOW EARTH ORBIT REGION". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ a b c Orbital Debris Quarterly News - Volume 12 Issue 4
External links[edit]
- IEEE - The Growing Threat of Space Debris
- The Threat of Orbital Debris and Protecting NASA Space Assets from Satellite Collisions
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