US and Russian communications satellites have collided in space in what is thought to be the biggest incident of its kind to date.
The US commercial Iridium spacecraft hit a defunct Russian satellite at an altitude of about 800km (500 miles) over Siberia on Tuesday, Nasa said.
The firm described it as an "extremely unusual, very low-probability event", stressing that it was not caused by any fault on its part.
Russia's space forces confirmed the collision with the defunct 950kg (2,094lb) satellite.
"A collision occurred between an Iridium 33 satellite and a Russian Kosmos 2251 military satellite," Major General Alexander Yakushin said.
The satellite was launched in 1993 and ceased to function two years later, he said according to the AFP news agency.
Russia has not commented on claims the satellite was out of control.
[VIA]
The image below shows just how much space debris there is. Roughly 17,000 objects are orbiting the earth.
It's no wonder a crash happened.
The US commercial Iridium spacecraft hit a defunct Russian satellite at an altitude of about 800km (500 miles) over Siberia on Tuesday, Nasa said.
The firm described it as an "extremely unusual, very low-probability event", stressing that it was not caused by any fault on its part.
Russia's space forces confirmed the collision with the defunct 950kg (2,094lb) satellite.
"A collision occurred between an Iridium 33 satellite and a Russian Kosmos 2251 military satellite," Major General Alexander Yakushin said.
The satellite was launched in 1993 and ceased to function two years later, he said according to the AFP news agency.
Russia has not commented on claims the satellite was out of control.
[VIA]
The image below shows just how much space debris there is. Roughly 17,000 objects are orbiting the earth.
It's no wonder a crash happened.
[VIA]
![[VIA]](http://images.theglobeandmail.com/archives/RTGAM/images/20080415/wearthdebris0415/_done_0415bigdebris_900.jpg){kind=link}