It is still unclear what happened to the Russian satellite Resurs P1. On June 26, a cloudcloud Debris was detected, assuming it had broken up. The incident was communicated yesterday by the Pentagon’s space command. Specializing in monitoring and analysis of this type of event, the company LeoLabs specified that the fragmentation of Resurs P1 took place on June 26 between 3:05 p.m. and 2:51 a.m. (June 27), French time.
Short alert in the ISS
Initially, more than a hundred pieces of debris were detected. A more recent press release reported more than 180 pieces of debris and detection continues. Placed in low orbit in 2013, Resurs P1 was a satellite ofearth observationEarth observation belonging to the Russian civilian space agency Roscosmos. Deactivated in 2021, its altitude gradually decreased. Resurs P1 was expected to disintegrate in theatmosphereatmosphere by the end of the year.
The incident occurred at an altitude of 355 kilometres. With the International Space Station (ISS) at 400 kilometres, the station was put on alert and all its astronauts were sent to their respective spacecraft, including Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, test pilot of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, currently docked at the station and which NASA refuses to return to Earth due to technical problems. After an hour, the astronauts were able to resume their normal activities.
Cause of accident undetermined
The cause of the incident is still unknown. The most likely cause is that the satellite fragmented itself following the explosion of its battery, which was not properly passivated when Resurs P1 was deactivated in 2021. This is currently the largest cause of debris creation in orbit. Mandatory passivation is regularly requested to be included in regulations.
The 5,600 kilo satellite could also have been hit by a small piece of debris. Speculation that the satellite was the target of an anti-satellite missile as a Russian defense demonstration appears to have been ruled out today. But Russia is one of the only space powers not to have ratified the treaty banning demonstration anti-satellite launches.
