To Avoid Collision With Debris, Astronauts Manoeuvre International Space Station
Russian and US flight controllers worked together during a two-and-a-half-minute operation to adjust the station's orbit and move further away, avoiding a collision.
To avoid possible collision with an unknown piece of space debris, the International Space Station (ISS) on September 22 conducted a 150-second re-boost.
Russian and US flight controllers worked together during a two-and-a-half-minute operation to adjust the station's orbit and move further away, avoiding a collision.
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During the avoidance manoeuver, the three American 'Expedition 63' crew members were directed to move to the Russian segment of the station to be closer to their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft in case of an evacuation and as a precautionary measure.
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The debris was estimated to come within 1.39 kilometres of the station with a time of closest approach of 6:21 p.m. EDT.
The avoidance manoeuver raised the station's orbit out of the predicted path of the debris. According to Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, the debris belonged to the 2018 Japanese rocket H-2A F40 that broke up into 77 pieces in 2019.
The station boosted its orbit out of the way of an unknown piece of space debris today after a docked resupply ship fired its engines at 5:19pm ET. The Exp 63 crew has resumed normal activities. More... https://t.co/LWOgLdshbQ pic.twitter.com/xoYwCyQDsS
¡ª Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) September 22, 2020
The ISS usually orbits roughly 260 miles (420 kilometres) above the Earth, at a speed of about 17,000 miles per hour. At such a velocity, even a small object could seriously damage a solar panel or other facet of the station.
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This type of manoeuver is necessary on a regular basis. NASA said 25 such manoeuvers had occurred between 1999 and 2018.
The debris object that ISS avoided is now available on SpaceTrack as 2018-084CQ, 46477, from the breakup of Japan's H-2A F40 rocket stage. At 2221:07 UTC it passed within a few km of ISS at a relative velocity of 14 6 km/s, 422 km over the Pitcairn Is in the S Pacific pic.twitter.com/2T3yFQoFMT
¡ª Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) September 22, 2020
"Once the avoidance maneuver was completed, the crew reopened hatches between the U.S. and Russian segments and resumed their regular activities," NASA said. "Maneuver Burn complete. The astronauts are coming out of safe haven," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said after the avoidance manoeuver was complete.
The space debris is getting worse, and the International Space Station has reportedly been manoeuvered three times in 2020 to avoid debris. Jim also urged the US Congress to provide the US Department of Commerce with the $15 million funds requested by President Donald Trump for the Office of Space Commerce.
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