NASA's Fermi Spacecraft Dodged a Defunct Russian Satellite 47
g01d4 writes "On March 29, 2012, NASA scientists learned that the space agency's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was headed for a potential conjunction (close approach) with Cosmos 1805, a defunct Russian satellite from the Cold War era. The team knew that the only way to move Fermi would be to fire thrusters designed to move the spacecraft out of orbit at the end of its operating life. On April 3rd, shortly after noon EDT, the space agency fired all thrusters for one second. When it was over, everyone involved 'just sighed with relief that it all went well.' By 1 p.m., the spacecraft had returned to its mission."
Orbital Envoirment Protection Agency.... (Score:2, Interesting)
It seems to have reached a point where the amount of orbital garbage is causing major (and expensive) problems.
I think that if anyone puts a sat in orbit without dodging capability, they are fools, and potentially contributing to the 'littering' of orbitals.
It's past time to start working on and TESTING solutions to clean up the orbitals before it gets even more out of hand.
Or is this some Earthshade Anti-Warming scheme I missed hearing about?