USA 32 part of Farrah III sigint satellites comes apart

[trader]

The end of this old Cold War era spy satellite has come. Bits and pieces up there become a hazard. https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/cold-war-spy-satellite-breaks-apart-orbit-and-nobody-knows-why

 

[Talyn]

There's ALOT of crap in Earth orbit.

Space debris consists of defunct human-made objects in Earth orbit that no longer serve a useful function, ranging from tiny paint flecks to abandoned rocket bodies.

Scale and Population

• Large objects (>10 cm): Over 31,000 tracked objects, including dead satellites and spent rocket stages.
• Medium pieces (1–10 cm): Estimated 1.2 million fragments that are too small to track individually but dangerous.
• Microscopic pieces (<1 cm): More than 140 million particles capable of causing severe damage upon impact.

Risks and Speed

• Hypervelocity travel: Debris in low Earth orbit travels at roughly 17,500 mph (7.8 km/s), making even tiny fragments hit like a bullet or explosive.
  
  Kessler Syndrome: A growing risk where a cascade of collisions generates continuous secondary fragments, potentially clogging useful orbital paths.
  
  Operations: The International Space Station and operational mega-constellations frequently perform avoidance maneuvers to dodge catalogued junk.
  
  
  
  

  Space Debris Tracker — Live 3D Map of 31,000+ Objects

  Track space debris live across LEO, MEO and GEO. Explore fragmentation events, compare debris fields against active constellations, and monitor 31,000+ catalogued objects.

  orbitalradar.com
  
  
  

 

[trader]

yes there is -each rocket launch has to take that into account to avoid them. Getting harder than it used to be.

 

[OkiePewPew]

Chinese hunter/killer satellite interceptor. They’re testing our response to having an ancient, but still operational, spy satellite get poofed while also getting in some real world practice for the coming war.
Or something like that…