It is not yet known exactly what happened to Olymp-K, which was in its end-of-life orbit. It may have collided with space debris, or exploded spontaneously due to negligence in inactivating its systems after its shutdown.
The Russian spy satellite Olymp-Kalso known as Luch/Olymp, disintegrated in your orbit end of life. The incident occurred last Friday.
Telescopes belonging to the Swiss company s2A systems, which monitors the situation in near-Earth orbit, recorded several fragments of debris separating from Olymp-K. The spacecraft then began to spin erratically.
Olymp-K, an “inspector satellite”, was launched into a geostationary orbit in 2014. Its mission was to regularly approach other geostationary satellites and intercept your signals.
Many of Olymp-K’s maneuvers caused serious concerns due to the collision danger that they created. In several cases, Olymp-K came close to satellites from other countries at a distance of just 5 km.
It is not yet known exactly what happened to Olymp-K, says . According to the astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, Known for his work monitoring near-Earth orbit, the leading theory is that the satellite has collided with space debris.
If confirmed, this means that situation in end-of-life orbits of satellites is worse than previously thought, causing legitimate concern about the increasing risks of collision of spacecraft and satellites in near-Earth space.
However, there is also another, more prosaic version, says Universe: a mere negligence or disregard for rules of conduct in space.
In theory, all satellites sent into graveyard orbits are subjected to passivation treatmentsto eliminate any possibility of a future explosion or of the device spontaneously turning on again and interfering with other satellites.
Passivation implies completely empty the fuel tanksdischarge the batteries and turn off all onboard systems.
Unfortunately, although this operation is mandatory, it is not always carried out completely. In the past, there have been cases where formally decommissioned satellites exploded in spacecreating a cloud of debris.
The and of dead satellites in orbits in near-Earth space have generated growing concerns about the space flight safety, International Space Stationand satellites currently in orbit.
The main fear is that the call could happen, a catastrophic event in which an explosion caused by space debris sends a cloud of fragments that, in turn, collide with other space objects, creating more debris, in a collision cascade.
