NASA’s TIMED Spacecraft Makes Its ‘Closest Pass’ With Dead Russian Cosmos Satellite

Two satellites got too close to each other on Wednesday. However, experts were not expecting any collision.

NASA's TIMED Got Too Close To a Dead Russian Satellite

On Wednesday (Feb. 28) morning at 1:34 a.m. EST (0634 GMT), NASA's Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Mission (TIMED) and Russian spy satellite Cosmos 2221 passed by each other from a height of roughly 373 miles (600 kilometers). Even though it is anticipated that the spacecraft will miss one another, a collision might produce much debris. The Department of Defense and NASA will keep an eye on the issue. According to NASA's blog, it was "their closest pass."

The TIMED science mission investigates how the Sun and human activity affect Earth's mesosphere and lower thermosphere/ionosphere. The area serves as a portal between Earth and space, initially allowing solar radiation to enter Earth's atmosphere.

The frequency of these near misses rises as Earth's orbit becomes increasingly congested. According to the European Space Agency, only 9,000 of the approximately 11,500 satellites that are now orbiting the Earth are still in service.

However, it's only the very beginning of the orbiting iceberg. More than 130 million trash particles with a diameter of one millimeter or more, as well as over 36,500 pieces of junk that are at least 4 inches (10 cm) broad, orbit our planet.

Given the speed at which objects move in Earth's orbit, even little fragments can potentially seriously harm a satellite. For instance, at the International Space Station's typical height of 250 miles (400 km), items travel at 17,500 mph (28,160 kph).

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FAA Seeks To Limit Space Junk

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States is taking action to lessen space trash. The organization that grants launch permits created a plan that restricts how long the upper stages of the space rocket can remain in orbit.

The FAA issued a statement outlining its strategy to clean up the cluttered orbit of Earth. The federal organization seeks "to limit the growth of new orbital debris and reduce the potential for collisions with spacecraft and satellites to promote a sustainable space environment."

Commercial launch companies would have five options under the proposed rules on how to get rid of the upper stages part of the rocket that ejects the payload. According to the FAA, the possibilities are as follows:

• Conduct a controlled reentry;
• Move the upper stage to a less congested storage or graveyard orbit;
• Send the upper stage on an Earth-escape orbit;
• Retrieve the upper stage (called active debris removal) within five years or
• Perform an uncontrolled atmospheric disposal.

In 2023, NASA awarded TransAstra, a startup in space logistics, $850,000 for inflatable capture bags to help clean the junk in outer space.

This was TransAstra's second inflatable catch bag contract in the last few years. They also received an early-stage contract from NASA for 2021, initially focusing on asteroid or space rock capture.

TransAstra soon realized that space junk also shares many of the challenges asteroids face. Firm officials claim that while space debris can create tiny bits resembling pebbles' motion in space, asteroids only make pebbles.

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