MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The collision between two
satellites of the United States and Russia on Tuesday would be the result of a
failure on the part of the U.S. Iridium satellite, an official of the Russian
Defense Ministry told Xinhua Thursday.
A computer-generated image released by
the European Space Agency (ESA) shows trackable objects in Low Earth Orbit
(LOE). US and Russian satellites crashed in space, the first known major
accident of its kind, creating two clouds of debris that were being
tracked by experts.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
The orbit about 800 km above the Earth is called the
"junk orbit," where defunct satellites from different countries gather together,
said Yuri Ivanov, an official of the defense ministry's press office.
He presumed that the incident might be caused by the
U.S. satellite's mistaken crash into the "junk orbit."
The Interfax news agency quoted space technology
expert Igor Lisov as saying that the Iridium Satellite LLC would have prevented
the incident.
A computer-generated image released by
the European Space Agency (ESA) shows trackable objects in Low Earth Orbit
(LOE). US and Russian satellites crashed in space, the first known major
accident of its kind, creating two clouds of debris that were being
tracked by experts.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
The U.S. side might not know or ignore the
possibility that the two satellites would smash into each other, he said.
Earlier in the day, a spokeswoman for the
Maryland-based Iridium Satellite LLC told Xinhua that Tuesday's collision is not
the result of a failure on the part of the Iridium satellite or its technology.
According to information shared with the company by
various U.S. government organizations that monitor satellites and other space
objects (such as debris), it appears that the satellite's loss was the result of
a collision with a non-operational Russian satellite, she said.
Iridium Satellite LLC operates a constellation of 66
low Earth orbiting satellites that provide voice and data services for areas not
served by ground-based communication networks.
The 560-kg Iridium 33, which collided with the
defunct 900-kg Russian satellite nearly 790 km over Siberia, was launched in
1997.
BEIJING, Feb. 13 -- The wreckage of US and Russian
satellites that collided over Siberia poses a threat to China's satellites in
orbit, but the country's space plan will proceed as scheduled. Full story
GENEVA, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A set of international
code of conduct is needed to ensure safety and security of all outer space
activities, the European Union said on Thursday, two days after two U.S. and
Russian satellites collided in space above Siberia. Full story
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State
Department is in touch with the Russian government on the investigation of a
collision in space between a U.S. commercial satellite and a Russian one, which
could take days or longer, the U.S. State Department spokesman Rob McInturff
told Xinhua on Thursday. Full story
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The collision of two
satellites on Tuesday is not the result of a failure on the part of the Iridium
satellite or its technology, Liz DeCastro, spokeswoman for the Maryland-based
Iridium Satellite LLC, said on Thursday in an email to Xinhua.
According to information shared with the company by
various U.S. government organizations that monitor satellites and other space
objects (such as debris), it appears that the satellite's loss was the result of
a collision with a non-operational Russian satellite, DeCastro said. Full story
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- One privately owned U.S.
communications satellite collided with a defunct Russian satellite in space
shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the
international space station, NASA said Wednesday.
It was the first such collision in space, NASA
spokesman Kelly Humphries said, adding that the magnitude of the accident was
still unknown. Full story
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. State Department
is in touch with the Russian government on the investigation of a collision in
space between a U.S. commercial satellite and a Russian one, which could take
days or longer, the U.S. State Department spokesman Rob McInturff told Xinhua on
Thursday.
The U.S. government can not confirm the cause of the
collision that happened on Tuesday, whether it was an accident or whether itwas
preventable, and what can be confirmed is the collision happened between an
active U.S. commercial satellite and an inactive Russian satellite, McInturff
said. Full story
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The collision between
a U.S. satellite and a Russian satellite will not affect the launch of the space
shuttle Discovery, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
"The shuttle launch will not be affected," Michael
Braukus, public affairs officer from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space
Administration headquarters, said in an email to Xinhua on Thursday morning. Full story
BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese space expert
said on Thursday that the massive debris of the satellite collision might pose
grave but controllable danger to other spacecrafts in case they hit them.
"The debris of the two big satellites may create
holes on other spacecrafts, or even bigger losses, once they hit them," Pang
Zhihao, a Chinese expert on space techniques, told Xinhua. Full story
MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. Iridium satellite
collided with a Russian military satellite on Tuesday, a commander of the
Russian Space Forces confirmed Thursday.
The U.S. Iridium 33 satellite collided with Russia's
Cosmos 2251 satellite at an altitude of 800 km at 19:56 Moscow time (1656GMT) on
Tuesday, Alexander Yakushin, first deputy commander of the space forces, was
quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying. Full story
MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Debris created in Tuesday's
satellites collision does not pose a threat to the international space station
(ISS), Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) said here Thursday.
A Russian satellite and a privately owned U.S.
communications satellite collided in space at 11:55 a.m. EST (1655 GMT) Tuesday
shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds, NASA has said. Full story
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space agency NASA
believes that the risk to the International Space Station (ISS) caused by a
collision of two satellites is low, news agencies reported on Wednesday.
One privately owned U.S. communications satellite
collided with a defunct Russian satellite in space Tuesday, shooting out a pair
of massive debris clouds and posing possible risks to the international space
station. Full story
