Debris from the Soviet Kosmos-1408 satellite destroyed by the Russian ASAT missile poses a threat to Starlink

The Soviet Cosmos-1408 spacecraft became a threat to Space satellites after it was destroyed. This is reported by COMSPOC.

What we know

A senior researcher at the organization said that the destruction of the Soviet satellite created a large amount of debris in space, posing a threat to the satellite constellation Starlink. The Soviet Union launched Cosmos-1408 40 years ago. But Russia decided to destroy it as part of an anti-satellite missile ASAT test. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense said that the fragments produced did not pose a threat.

According to COMSPOC, more than 6,000 dangerous approaches of Cosmos-1408 fragments to SpaceX satellites have been recorded in orbit in about nine months. By the term "hazardous approach," the organization means a distance of less than 10 kilometers.

The wreckage of the Soviet vehicle approached 841 by Starlink communications. How many times the U.S. satellites had to dodge, COMSPOC is currently specifying. At the same time in SpaceX said that since December last year, within six months, the satellites performed 7,000 maneuvers, including 1,700 evasions due to space debris, which was formed after the test of the Russian rocket ASAT.

In the future, the threat of Starlink disruption is expected to diminish as Cosmos-1408 debris disperses and disintegrates. But at the same time, COMSPOC does not rule out that fragments of the Soviet satellite may become a threat to the ISS.

Source: Space News

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