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An activeNASAspacecraft has survived a about - miss with a defunct Russian planet in crushed Earth orbit .
NASA ’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics ( TIMED ) deputation spacecraft and Russia’sCosmos 2221satellite were due to tight pass each other at around 1:30 am Eastern Time on Feb. 28 , at an altitude of about 373 international mile ( 600 kilometers),according to a statementreleased by NASA just an hr before the near - miss .
An artist’s impression of the TIMED spacecraft scanning Earth in orbit.
Had the two non - maneuverable satellite collide , it would n’t have just doomed NASA ’s orbiter — which monitor the consequence of the Lord’s Day on the Earth ’s ambience — but could have also potentially started a catastrophic hit cascade with other object in eye socket .
" A collision could leave in important junk multiplication , " NASA and the Department of Defense representativeswrote in the statement .
The possible scenario of a shower of satellite debris in miserable Earth orbit ( the field of place within 1,200 mile or 2,000 kilometre of Earth ) is called Kessler syndrome , and was popularly draw in the 2013 pic " solemnity . "
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Although a cascade of this kind has yet to happen , scientist are increasingly interested that thegrowing number of satellitesandspace junkis take a shit it more likely . presently , the Department of Defense pass over the 30,000 largest debris pieces , but there are many more that are too lowly to be comply , consort to NASA .
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These smaller clod are a menace both to satellites and theInternational Space Station , which in 2022 had to perform evasive tactical manoeuvre to dodge the junk generated by a Russian anti - satellite trial .
Scientists are currentlyworking on ways to limit Earth ’s infinite junk job . For example , a team of Australian scientists proposedremoving minuscule junk from space by blast it with a optical maser , whilethe European Space Agency(ESA ) contrive to launch a four - arm robot to take hold of individual items of space junk .
The ESA is hoping to apply the commission , scheduled for 2025 , as a test for a much wider - reaching operation execute by a fleet of robot dry cleaners .
ESA ’s director generalJan Wörnerhas also scream for newfangled pattern to make company and agencies that plunge satellites responsible for tidying up their bedding material .
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