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The International Space Station |
ISS performs debris avoidance maneuver
UniverseToday reports that
the ISS needed to perform a maneuver on Friday, January 13 to avoid debris from the 2009 collision between
an inactive Russian Cosmos 2251 satellite and a commercial Iridium satellite.
U.S. Space Command recommended the space station perform a debris
avoidance maneuver on Friday, January 13, 2012 to move out of harms’
way and dodge a possible collision with the piece of space junk,
said to be about 10 centimeters in diameter. The thrusters on the
Zvezda service module fired at 1610 UTC on Friday to raise the orbit
of the ISS.
Without the maneuver, the object would have made two close
approaches to the station on consecutive orbits on Friday, passing within the “pizza box” shaped region around the station, measuring 0.75 kilometers above and below the station and 25 kilometers on each side
(2,460 feet above and below and 15.6 by 15.6 miles).
A higher orbit for the ISS means that AOS will occur at a slightly
later time than those predicted in existing Keplerian Elements.
Users are encourage to update their tracking elements to maintain
tracking accuracy.
Amsat, UniverseToday.com
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