List of space debris producing events

Major contributors to space debris include the explosion of upper stages and satellite collisions.[1]

There were 190 known satellite breakups between 1961 and 2006.[2] By 2015, the total had grown to 250 on-orbit fragmentation events.[3]

As of 2012 there were an estimated 500,000 pieces of debris in orbit,[4] with 300,000 pieces below 2000 km (LEO).[1] Of the total, about 20,000 are tracked.[1] Also, about sixteen old Soviet nuclear space reactors are known to have released an estimated 100,000 liquid metal (NaK) droplets 800–900 km up,[5] which range in size from 1 – 6 cm.[5]

The greatest risk to space missions is from untracked debris between 1 and 10 cm in size.[1] Large pieces can be tracked and avoided, and impact from smaller pieces are usually survivable.[1]

Top debris creation events, January 2016[6]
ObjectYearPiecesNotes
Fengyun-1C20073,428Intentional collision (ASAT)
Kosmos 225120091,668Accidental collision with Iridium 33
STEP 2 Rocket Body1996754Accidental explosion
Iridium 332009628Accidental collision with Kosmos 2251
Kosmos 24212008509Disintegrated
SPOT 1 Rocket Body1986498Accidental explosion
OV2-1 Rocket Body1965473Accidental explosion
CBERS 1 Rocket Body2000431Accidental explosion
Nimbus 4 Rocket Body1970376Accidental explosion
TES Rocket Body2001372Accidental explosion

Recent events

On 3 February 2015, the 13th DMSP satellite of the US government—DMSP-F13, launched in 1995—exploded while in a sun-synchronous polar orbit leaving a debris field of at least 43 objects. The US Air Force Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California is monitoring the expanding debris field, and "will issue conjunction warnings if necessary."[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 The Threat of Orbital Debris and Protecting NASA Space Assets from Satellite Collisions (2009)
  2. ↑ AN ANALYSIS OF RECENT MAJOR BREAKUPS IN THE LOW EARTH ORBIT REGION
  3. ↑ "ESA Experts Assess Risk from Exploded Satellite". http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Clean_Space/. ESA. Retrieved 5 March 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  4. ↑ "DARPA wants army of networked amateur astronomers to watch sky for space junk, aliens". Stratrisks. 2012-11-14. Archived from the original on 2012-11-19.
  5. 1 2 IEEE – The Growing Threat of Space Debris Archived 2013-01-27 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ Meador, P. Anz (April 2016). "Top Ten Satellite Breakups Reevaluated". Orbital Debris Quarterly News. 20 (1 & 2). Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  7. ↑ Berger, Brian; Gruss, Mike (27 February 2015). "20-year-old Military Weather Satellite Apparently Exploded in Orbit". Space News. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
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