CollisionFebruary 10, 2009
Iridium–Cosmos Collision
On 10 February 2009, the operational Iridium 33 communications satellite collided with the defunct Russian Cosmos 2251 over Siberia at a closing speed of about 11.7 km/s. It was the first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact satellites, and it produced more than 2,300 trackable fragments across two debris clouds. The event proved that orbital collisions were no longer hypothetical and accelerated investment in conjunction-screening and space-traffic-management services.
At a glance
- Date
- February 10, 2009
- Type
- Collision
- Orbit regime
- LEO (~789 km)
- Trackable fragments
- 2,300+
Related
Data sourced from ESA Space Debris Office, NASA Orbital Debris Program Office, and U.S. Space Command catalog reporting. © SpaceOdysseyHub.