A deep Russian satellite has make a big swarm of junk after recrudesce apart in orbit in early January , posing a likely trouble for years to come . accord to the US Space Force ’s eighteenth Defense Squadron ( SDS ) , which tracks hokey physical object in place , the event created at least 85 freestanding pieces of rubble that will now stay in orbit for a significant amount of sentence .
The orbiter itself was Kosmos 2499 , a Russian craft that has no recognize role . The reason of the disintegration is also a mystery , with neither the SDS nor Roskosmos comment on how the event may have occurred .
Kosmos 2499 was an whole unidentified satellite , launched from a Russian Rockot found fomite alongside three Rodnik - S satellites , which are used for military communications , in 2014 . It was originally classify as a piece of space detritus by the US until it start up maneuvering in ways that detritus should n’t , argue it was an intentional artificial satellite order there by Russia .
In fact , Kosmos 2499 moved in style other artificial satellite generally did n’t , using powered manoeuvre to shut in on garden rocket stage and other orbiting target , leading to wild guess about its employment – some thought it was a care orbiter to maintain others , while some even proposed it was a raw case of anti - satellite weapon .
Expectedly , the US armed services kept a close centre on Kosmos 2499 .
Writing in a blog post to his websiteRussianSpaceWeb.com , Anatoly Zak publish :
“ The US armed services was now rechecking orbital parameters of the mysterious satellite three or four times a Clarence Shepard Day Jr. ! ”
Rumors surrounding its purpose were turn to by Roscosmos many class ago , stating that the satellite was for “ peaceful purposes including unspecified research by educational institutions ” . It had supposedly completed its commission in 2014 . However , in the years following , Kosmos 2499 continued to make targeted maneuvres towards other trade , which is not typical of a supposedly irrelevant satellite .
Regardless of its procedure , Kosmos 2499 will not be making any more maneuvers after disintegrating , but it does leave a novel challenge in its wake . The junk cloud at that height , which is retrieve to be 1,169 kilometers ( 729 miles ) , will stay orbiting the earth for years to come , add to the huge cloud of debris that skirt the earth already .
Such events continue to pollute the crowded environment , and all space agencies should be constantly working to minimize this risk of exposure . For Kosmos 2499 , any exploit will now be too previous .
