By: Shawn  Wang

Retired by Russia in 2022, the dead satellite known as Resurs p1 mysteriously broke apart in space while in orbit. Today, it is still not confirmed what had happened, but there are a few possibilities that have been thought up. “We don’t have a clear understanding yet,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who maintains a public catalog of orbiting shrapnel in space.

Russian Satellite, Resurs P1, breaks in orbit

On June 26th, Resurs 1 was orbiting about 220 miles above the ground when it broke apart into more than 100 shards. This was according to an announcement made by the U.S. Space Command, a defense department that executes military operations in space.

The first explanation for the event is that the long-dead internal battery inside the satellite exploded. This explanation would be the most reasonable and least problematic compared to the others.

A more concerning explanation is that the satellite collided with another piece of space junk that was also orbiting Earth. The U.S. Space Force keeps track of all large pieces of space debris, but it is possible that the piece that collided with Resurs 1 was too small to be recorded.

The third, and most concerning, possibility is that the satellite was destroyed on purpose. This practice has been done by many countries, including Russia, China, India, and the United States as well. In 2021, Russia intentionally fired a missile at one of their own satellites in orbit. Meanwhile, the United States banned these anti-satellite tests in 2022.

Although it is unlikely that this was the case, the satellite did pass over a Russian launch site that could be used to fire missiles while it was orbiting over it, according to Dr. McDowell. “So I can’t rule it out at this point,” he said, “but I also can’t rule in.”

Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/science/russian-satellite-debris-iss.html