They really did. It's a first. One was an Iridium satellite (remember those?) and the other was a defunct Soviet communications satellite (is there any other kind?) The collision took place at noon EST, 491 miles over northern Siberia. No fair! Everything good always happens over northern Siberia.
Asked which satellite was at fault, [Nicholas] Johnson [who's NASA's chief scientist in charge of space debris; I wish I had that on my business card] said "they ran into each other. Nothing has the right of way up there. We don't have an air traffic controller in space. There is no universal way of knowing what's coming in your direction."
Scary. I truly believe people will look back on today as the day Earth's orbital space passed the tipping point into oversaturation. It's going to be hell up there until we've got enough debris that we can just weld it all together into a Dyson sphere. (I know Dyson spheres are around stars. Work with me here.)
What with this and the Wachowski brothers maybe making a Superman movie, the end times are truly near.
It's hard to imagine a universal monitoring system for an environment where a paint flake can puncture a space shuttle. On the upside, this seems like the sort of challenge that gives birth to insanely useful technologies, like Velcro.
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On the Wachowskis and Superman - say what you will about the Matrix, but they got my approval with V for Vendetta and Speed Racer. At the least they'll probably do better than "ZOMG Lex Luthor" again.
Cliff
Feb. 11, 2009 20:22:pm
at 20:22:pm
Lev, are you familiar with the manga series Planetes? It's literally about a team of garbage collectors who have to clean up all the debris floating around (from, say, satellite collisions) in the Earth's orbit. It's better than it might sound!
jeffk
Feb. 11, 2009 20:45:pm
at 20:45:pm
Was a space shuttle crewed by Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner nearby when this collision happened? Because I think I saw this movie.
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Chief scientist in charge of space debris is the greatest title ever. That Nicholas Johnson has got be doing well with the ladies. "Why, hello there. I'm NASA's chief scientist in charge of space debris. Want to come look through my telescope at some old Saturn booster stages? They glow quite beautifully at this time of night."
Kemper
Feb. 12, 2009 12:02:pm
at 12:02:pm
Wait a minute! There's only nine hundred satellites up there! That's not actually that many, when you think about it. I doubt it will be like in WALL-E, with the cloud hovering around the Earth.
tereglith
Feb. 12, 2009 18:15:pm
at 18:15:pm