Satellite, rocket stage nearly collide in possible ‘worst-case scenario’
An old rocket body and a military satellite nearly collided on Friday. LeoLabs said the resulting crash would have resulted in thousands of fragments persisting for decades.
Two large pieces of space debris – an old rocket body and a military satellite – nearly collided.
LeoLabs, a private company that works to track satellites and objects in low Earth orbit, tweeted that, had the objects hit each other, the collision would have resulted in thousands of fragments that would have "persisted for decades."
The International Space Station has had to maneuver to avoid such debris, and a tiny object that is possibly a piece of orbital debris is thought to be responsible for a leak aboard a Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the station.
