International Space Station switches orbit to avoid collision with Chinese satellite junk

To avoid collision with space debris, the International Space Station (ISS) was forced to make a manoeuvre earlier this week to avoid encountering the space junk left behind by the Chinese Fengyun-1C satellite, as per The Conversation. The ISS' emergency shift of orbit happened on November 11, with a crew of astronauts and cosmonauts on board. Earlier in the year, a little piece of space junk punched a 5mm hole in the Canadian-built robot arm on the ISS in May. However, in the year 2020, there were three near-misses.

Chinese Fengyun-1C satellite exploded into about 3,500 debris in 2007, the majority of which are still orbiting the Earth. Several have now entered the orbital zone of the ISS. Apart from the ISS, several satellites circling the Earth have also become concerned about the space junk. According to The Conversation, ISS is the most susceptible target as the world's largest inhabited space station. It circles at a speed of 7.66 kilometres per second.

5,000 satellites in operation right now

A small piece of debris might cause catastrophic harm in a collision at that speed. According to The Conversation, the lower Earth orbit is increasingly becoming crowded. There are about 5,000 satellites in operation right now, with many more on the way. SpaceX alone will soon have over 2,000 Starlink broadband satellites in orbit, on its way to a target of 12,000 and even 40,000.

Apart from the satellites in orbit, the European Space Agency's Space Debris Office estimates that there are some 36,500 orbiting artificial objects larger than 10cm in diameters, such as defunct satellites and rocket stages. A million such objects are between 1cm and 10cm in length, while 330 million are between 1mm and 1cm in length, according to The Conversation.

Even a particle of paint can damage an ISS window

The majority of these objects are in low-Earth orbit. Even a particle of paint can damage an ISS window, and a marble-sized object can breach a pressurised module due to the high speeds involved. Multi-layer shielding protects the ISS modules from puncture and depressurization. According to the Conversation's report, there is still a chance that something like this may happen before the ISS's life cycle ends this decade.

Image: AP