A low-intensity explosion led the Russian spacecraft to spew debris

A Russian satellite may have suffered a "low-intensity explosion" that sent hundreds of pieces of debris into low Earth orbit, according to a company analysis.

Both the US Space Command and private space situational awareness providers reported that the Russian remote sensing satellite Resurs P1, which was downed on June 26, was affected by a breakup event. The incident created more than 100 pieces of fragments and could be tracked through the ground sensor.

The reason for the breakup is unclear, but the first publicly reported the incident, the Lellab people believed that the "low -intensity explosion" inside the collision or spacecraft itself caused fragments. This explosion has created at least 250 pieces of debris as high as 500 kilometers.

This conclusion was reached when the company analyzed this debris cloud using its own tools to look at the number of debris object distributions to better understand what created it. The July 3 statement issued by Lerabet on July 3: "Although many waste clouds have not yet made a comprehensive analysis, our initial assessment conclusion is that the most likely reason for the intensity is the explosion." "This explosion can be caused by external stimuli, such as a small fragment (more classified) or internal structural defects that cause system failure.

The analysis does not include the specification that satellites may have been used as anti -satellite testing target, as in Cosmos 1408 in November 2021. There are no other signs, such as military statements in Russia or the United States, as well as IT, IT, military restrictions, IT. It is advisable to plan or execute such a test. The explosion does not appear to have caused the satellite itself to completely disintegrate. Optical observations of Resurs P by Sybilla Technologies, a Polish space situational awareness firm, show that the main satellite is still there, rotating for two to three seconds. Images taken before the breakup by HEO, an Australian company that uses commercial satellites to image other space objects, show that the solar panels on Resurs P1 and two follow-on spacecraft, P2 and P3, could not be fully installed. It is not clear if this implementation flaw is in any way connected to the breach. Although a debris event does not appear to be a worst-case scenario, it still poses a danger to other satellites in low Earth orbit. LeoLabs notes that the altitude of some of the debris brings it through orbits used by many other operational satellites, as well as the International Space Station and China's Tiangong Space Station. These objects can remain in orbit for "weeks or months" before atmospheric drag causes them to break up.

"This incident demonstrates the ongoing risk of decommissioning in orbit," the company concluded. Resurs P1 was decommissioned in 2021 and will descend from its current orbit of about 355 kilometers later this year.

It's not alone, LeoLabs added. "Over time, there are more than 2,500 intact pieces of long-term obsolete hardware (ie, discarded missile casings and useless payloads) that may suffer a fate similar to Resurs P1."