Amateur Radio satellite avoids collision

The United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) had predicted a close approach on Friday between the Amateur Radio satellite Compass 1 and the Ukraine satellite Sich 1. Fortunately, Compass 1 survived.

On the AMSAT bulletin board Armando N8IGJ reported that the closing velocity of the two satellites was 15,000 meters/second or 34,000 MPH, more than enough to have destroyed both if they'd made contact, fortunately they didn't.

Matt N8MS made good educational use of the near collision with his school pupils, he posted:

14:32 utc on Jan 22, 2010 we copied the beacon from Sister Lakes Elementary school in Southwest Michigan (EN62). We had a maximum elevation of 10.5°.

My third grade students were excited to listen today to see if Compass-1 survived. The boys and girls let out a cheer when we heard the beacon!

AMSAT Bulletin Board AMSAT-BB
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/

Collision risk for amateur radio satellite
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2010/
collision_risk.htm