By: Emily Ao

Last Wednesday, a Russian satellite orbiting 220 miles above the ground exploded into over 100 shards, prompting astronauts at the International Space Station to stay on guard. Thankfully, the surprise contained “no immediate threats,” with Space Command announcing that further investigation would be pursued on the sudden collapse of Resurs P1.

It is unknown how Resurs P1 exploded while in space. According to the New York Times article, “A Dead Russian Satellite Broke Into More Than 100 Pieces in Space,” it was first launched in 2013 to observe Earth for agricultural purposes, but Russia retired it in 2022. Since then, the satellite slowly declined, dropping lower and lower in altitude annually.

Some researchers believe that Resurs P1 may have collided with large pieces of space junk, leading to its explosion. This certainly is a valid hypothesis; Resurs P1’s destruction only added more junk into the 100 million pieces of floating space debris. Usually, the U.S. Space Force would have used its tracking devices to prevent debris from colliding into satellites and other technology, but perhaps the debris was too small to be picked up on the tracker, Dr. McDowell says.

It’s also possible that the destruction of Resurs P1 could’ve been intentional. In the past, countries like Russia, India, and China have run missile tests, firing projectiles at defunct satellites. However, this idea is doubtful because based on the large size of Resurs P1, the intentional destruction would have led to a large amount of scraps in space.

Researchers aim to further discuss and observe the sudden destruction of Resurs P1. Through the debris tracking device, they hope to track down the scraps of the destroyed satellite and find the answers to their questions.