Collision Tonight?

[Jonfliesgoats]

Two satellites may get a little too close to each other tonight.

http://spaceflight101.com/close-orbital-encounter-january-7-2017/

[Findthepin1]

I can't load the page. How close are they supposed to get?

[Jonfliesgoats]

Less than 1km.  The article says some estimates had collision risks as high as 44%, but hat seems high considering we waited until 2009 for the first hypervelocity accident.

[wumpus]

Non-maneuverable?  That should mean either "space junk", or "mostly space junk that still has some communication but is otherwise dead".  Although I could be wrong and these are high enough that they can't be simply de-orbited, nor have a handy "graveyard orbit".

[Jonfliesgoats]

Yeah, the article was saying they are both uncontrollable, so maneuvering isn't an option.

[kerbiloid]

10 hours ago, Findthepin1 said:

can't load the page. How close are they supposed to get?

Too early. Probably something with your net provider.

9 hours ago, wumpus said:

Non-maneuverable?  That should mean either "space junk", or "mostly space junk that still has some communication but is otherwise dead".  Although I could be wrong and these are high enough that they can't be simply de-orbited, nor have a handy "graveyard orbit".

He-he. Welcome the future cubesats and other mini junk. Propulsion is too expensive for schoolsats.

[rudi1291]

Looks like they missed.

Quote

The Joint Space Operations Center issued a notification that the close approach of two non-maneuverable satellites did not result in a collision: “The close approach predicted at 21:53:00 UTC on 7 Jan 2017 has passed without incident. The JSpOC has confirmed that both satellites are being tracked as single objects, indicating that no collision has occurred.”

from spaceflight101

Edited January 8, 2017 by rudi1291

[kerbiloid]

Or went clean through. Let them search for a satellite with a hole in chest.

[Superfluous J]

They were probably on rails, so they'd pass right through each other.

EDIT: Also:

Update: High-Risk Satellite Conjunction passes without Incident

Edited January 8, 2017 by 5thHorseman

[worir4]

42 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

They were probably on rails, so they'd pass right through each other.

EDIT: Also:

Update: High-Risk Satellite Conjunction passes without Incident

I wonder what would have happened if they did collide. (Gravity?)

Does any one know how close it got?

[rudi1291]

The article mentiones the 2009 collision, which created a huge cloud of debris ranging from 400 to 1300km altitude. Probably something like that....

[Superfluous J]

1 hour ago, worir4 said:

I wonder what would have happened if they did collide. (Gravity?)

Pretty much everything that happened in Gravity - aside from "People going into space" would not happen. As a result of an orbital collision or just in general.

Edited January 8, 2017 by 5thHorseman