Friday, February 20th, 2009

Space Debris

Debris objects in low-Earth orbit (LEO) ESA image

Last week, Russia's derelict Cosmos 2251 satellite collided with the Iridium 33 communications satellite 490 miles above Siberia. The collision added hundreds of new pieces of debris to Earth orbit, further complicating an already complex constellation of objects orbiting the planet. We'll check in on the after-effects of the collision, and talk about what the lingering debris from the crash means for future space missions.

Guests

Mark Matney
Orbital Debris Program Office
NASA Johnson Space Center
Houston, TX

Related Links

• NASA Orbital Debris Office
• US Space Command - Space Surveillance
• ESA: Space debris: evolution in pictures

Segment produced by:Flora Lichtman

Friday, February 20th, 2009

• Inspiring Young Engineers
• The Telephone Gambit
• An Etch-A-Sketch for Nanotech?
• Space Debris
• Future of Animation

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