Russian spacecraft narrowly avoids crash with US satellite by just 10 meters

A U.S. satellite recently had a close call with a Russian spacecraft, narrowly avoiding a collision by just 10 meters—an incident that only came to light after occurring on February 28. This alarming near-miss was a concern for NASA, particularly because of the potential danger debris from such an incident could pose to the International Space Station (ISS) and its crew.

Colonel Pam Melroy, NASA’s deputy administrator, expressed her shock and concern at a Space Symposium hosted by the Space Foundation, highlighting the serious threat posed by debris in space. She noted that debris resulting from satellite collisions can travel at speeds of 10,000 miles per hour, capable of severely damaging other spacecraft and endangering human lives.

The incident involved the non-maneuverable NASA Timed satellite and the defunct Russian spy satellite Cosmos 2221. “On February 28, these two satellites came unexpectedly close to each other, within a distance shorter than from me to the front row here,” Melroy recounted. The potential collision could have generated numerous high-speed debris fragments, posing a prolonged threat to space operations.

This episode underscores the broader issue of space congestion. Currently, Earth’s orbit hosts over 10,000 satellites, a number that has quadrupled since 2019. With approximately 400,000 more satellites approved for deployment into low Earth orbit and SpaceX’s plans to add another 44,000 satellites for its Starlink internet network, the risk of collisions in space is becoming increasingly significant.