US Satellite Orbiting Earth for 20-Plus Years Has Partially Disintegrated, Russian Scientists Warn
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Scientists from the Moscow-based Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics at Russia’s Academy of Sciences said on Saturday that an American satellite is partially dissolving in orbit, endangering other spacecraft orbiting Earth.
Several small-sized particles that broke off from Galaxy 11 have been tracked by telescopes and could now pose a hazard to other spacecraft in orbit, according to researchers, Sputnik reported.
“Partial destruction of the old (launched in 1999) Galaxy 11 telecommunications device occurred in geostationary orbit,” the institute said in a Telegram post.
The Keldysh Institute stated that while the precise causes of the spacecraft's disintegration are still unknown, they may be related to the deterioration of its thermal insulation, solar panels, or other hardware.
Based on the HS-702 satellite bus, Galaxy 11 was created by Hughes Space and Communications for PanAmSat. It weighed 4,477 kilograms (9,870 pounds) upon launch and has 40 J band (IEEE C and Ku bands, respectively) and 24 G/H band (IEEE C and H bands) transponders on board. Its projected operational lifetime was 15 years, according to public data on it.
The latest comes as the United States seeks to introduce a resolution to the UN General Assembly calling on other nations to pledge not to conduct anti-satellite missile tests, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday.
“This April, I announced that our nation would not conduct destructive, direct-descent, anti-satellite missile testing, and later this month, the United States will introduce a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly to call on other nations to make the same commitment,” Harris said during remarks at the Johnson Space Center.
