Image: All the credits go the Stefan Wagener, VE4NSA, for this fantastic-looking and very realistic model of Delfi-C3.
The Amateur Radio satellite Delfi-C3 (DO-64) nearly didn't make it to her 2nd birthday on April 28 due to Cosmos debris.
The Delfi team received a warning from the United States Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) that on March 30 at 14:49 UTC COSMOS debris would approach Delfi-C3 almost head on at a closing velocity of 15 km per second. At that speed had they collided Delfi-C3 would have smashed to pieces producing an expanding cloud of debris that could have threatened other satellites. Fortunately they passed each other with about 492 metres to spare.
In February 2009 Cosmos 2251 smashed into Iridium 33 destroying the two satellites and producing over a thousand pieces of debris and in January 2010 a Cosmos rocket body come within a 100 metres of the Amateur Radio satellite SEEDS (CO-66).
In the United Kingdom the Surrey Space Centre team have developed a device to drag space debris out of orbit and will be launching a 3U CubeSat demonstrator called CubeSail in 2011.
UK CubeSail satellite
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2010/
cubesail.htm
IET article - Avoiding satellite collisions
http://kn.theiet.org/magazine/issues/1005/
orbital-graveyard-1005.cfm
Feb 2009 - Cosmos-Iridium Satellite debris
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/may2009/
satellite_debris.htm
Jan 2010 - Cosmos-Seeds near miss
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/january2010/
seeds_near_miss.htm
Delfi-C3 (DO-64) Mission page
http://www.delfic3.nl/index.php?option=com_content
&task=view&id=93&Itemid=122
Live OSCAR Satellite Status Page
http://oscar.dcarr.org/
Source: Southgate News
SAWDIS: Space debris is a constant threat to satellites including weather satellites. Let's hope the Cubesail Satellite can prevent satellites from colliding with space debris.
