The International Space Station and other spacecraft that fly relatively close to Earth have a new orbital road hazard -- a cloud of more than 500 pieces of debris caused by the explosion last month of a Russian upper-stage rocket. The orbital explosion of a Briz-M rocket motor was Russia's third since 2007. The rocket motors were left stranded in elliptical orbits that overlapped where the space station and numerous other satellites fly. Read more
Russian rocket stage explosion creates debris swarm in space
After an August launch failure, a Russian Briz-M rocket stage with loaded fuel tanks exploded in low Earth orbit on October 16, creating a debris storm. NASA and other space agencies say the debris could threaten the International Space Station, as well as hundreds of satellites. Read more
Contact Established with Wayward Russian Satellite
Contact had been established with one of two off-course telecom satellites but it would not be possible to direct it to the designated orbit, its manufacturer said Monday. Telemetric data showed all Telkom 3's service systems were functioning normally, Russia's Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems said. The link established did not allow enough control of the satellite to put it back on track, the company confirmed. Read more
Russian Federal Mission with TELKOM 3 and EXPRESS MD2 Satellites Anomaly.
On 7 August at 1:31 a.m. local time, a Proton Breeze M vehicle carrying the Express MD2 and Telkom 3 satellites launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Proton M launch vehicle performed nominally, however, the Orbital Unit (OU), comprised of the Breeze M upper stage and the two spacecraft, did not properly reach its transfer orbit and was placed into an off-nominal intermediate orbit. The Aerospace Defence and Roscosmos, are currently monitoring the OU and efforts are now underway to establish contact with the Express MD2 and Telkom 3 satellites. Read more
Russia launched two telecommunications satellites Monday night aboard a Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan, according to the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos. The Indonesian satellite -- Telkom 3 -- is scheduled to separate from the rocket's upper stage at 8.44 a.m. Tuesday and the Russian satellite -- Express MD2 -- at 9.14 a.m., said Roscosmos. Read more