"500 miles, 500 miles, 500 miles, 500 milesLord I'm five hundred miles from my home." - Peter, Paul and MaryNot long ago I wrote about
bird collisions in this column. Now there's a new genre of aerial mishaps to report. These birds are manmade.
According to RIA Novosti, the Russian News and Information Agency, the remnants of a US Iridium satellite and a defunct Russian Cosmos-2251 satellite that collided on February 10, 2009 may pose a threat to satellites in the same 800 km (500 mile) orbital belt, including the 65 remaining Iridium telecommunications birds.
"800 kilometers is a popular orbit for remote sensing and telecom satellites," notes Vladimir Solovyov, head of the Russian segment of the International Space Station. "The cloud of debris is a serious threat."
No big thing, though, contends
Iridium Satellite LLC, the US company that maintains the constellation. Iridium Satellite says it patched a work-around for the loss of the annihilated satellite, noting that its demise resulted in very limited telephone service disruptions. Due to the mesh design of the Iridium network, the company expects further impacts from the loss to be limited. Iridium Satellite also anticipates replacing the lost telecom satellite with an in-orbit spare.
Interestingly enough, Iridium is also working with what it calls "appropriate government agencies" to gather additional information about the satellite collision.
Sounds Like a PlanThe Russians aren't as sanguine. They’re pointing an accusatory finger at two US government agencies. In a March 3rd press release, a retired high-ranking Russian general claimed these US agencies planned the satellite collision. Major General Leonid Shershnev, the former head of Russia's military space intelligence program, says a special US military satellite caused the collision.
The bird ostensibly was a dual-purpose research satellite deployed for the
US Orbital Express project. Orbital Express, a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project carried on in conjunction with NASA, is supposedly a way to validate the technical feasibility of robotic autonomous on-orbit re-fueling and re-configuration of satellites.
The NASA DARPA program began in 2007 as part of the Air Force's Space Test Program STP-1 mission. STP-1 actually tested a servicing satellite called ASTRO, as well as a next-generation serviceable satellite dubbed NextSat.
Robot-Equipped SatellitesShershnev claims Orbital Express technology lets the US monitor and inspect spacecraft by means of robot-equipped satellites. He says the Iridium-Cosmos-2251 collision was an indication the US has fully developed the technology, with the goal of destroying hostile enemy satellites if need be.
With no human witnesses in the 800 km satellite belt, it's impossible to say whether the Iridium-Cosmos-2251 collision was indeed planned or was a space junk accident. However, the incident underscores the fact that although the Cold War is officially over, there's still a lot of dissonance between the former Soviet Union and the US.
Indeed, a recent book by Peter Earley, entitled
Comrade J, gives us a glimpse into the spy-vs.-spy world of Russia and America. Earley describes how, from 1995 until 2000, double agent Sergei Tretyakov, also known as Comrade J, directed covert spy action from Russian diplomatic headquarters in New York City. During this period, Tretyakov recruited spies, planted key Russian agents, penetrated UN and US security, and manipulated top US officials such as Madeleine Albright and others in the State Department.
NASA says there are now 19,000 objects in low and high Earth orbit. Does anyone know how many Russian spies are in the US, or how many US spies are in the former Soviet Union?
Do you have any thoughts on these matters? Write me at
amm at en-genius dot net, or post your comments on our blog.
