{"id":627857,"date":"2026-10-12T02:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T02:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627857\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T02:10:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T02:10:32","slug":"another-satellite-breakup-raises-concerns-about-space-junk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627857\/","title":{"rendered":"Another satellite breakup raises concerns about space junk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SatelliteOn October 5, 2026, another satellite breakup occurred in low-Earth orbit. LeoLabs \u2014 a company that tracks satellites and space debris \u2014 witnessed the satellite breakup when it passed over Australia and said<\/a> the fragments \u201cmay pose a threat to surrounding spacecraft.\u201d Impression via Gemini AI.<\/p>\n

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to EarthSky\u2019s free daily newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

Another satellite breakup raises concerns about space junk<\/p>\n

This week, a Soviet-era weather satellite broke apart in low-Earth orbit, creating tens of new pieces of debris that could threaten other spacecraft. This information comes from LeoLabs<\/a>, a company that operates a global network of radars for tracking satellites and space debris. LeoLabs said<\/a> that it detected the event on October 5, 2026, with the company\u2019s system, LeoLabs Delta. It spotted multiple objects near the inactive Meteor 2-7 satellite after it passed over a radar station in Western Australia. Follow-up observations from other radars confirmed that a debris-generating event occurred. <\/p>\n

LeoLabs said the event is the latest in a series of debris-generating events its network has detected over the past six months. The company called it<\/a> a: <\/p>\n

\u2026 worrying trend for space safety and security.<\/p>\n

A satellite launched in 1981<\/p>\n

The satellite that broke up \u2014 Meteor 2-7 \u2014 was launched by the Soviet Union in May 1981. It was part of the Meteor series of weather satellites. Its purpose was to observe clouds and gather information about Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

But the satellite has now been inactive for decades. Today, it travels around Earth at an altitude of roughly 500 to 560 miles (800 to 900 km), according to orbital data<\/a>. <\/p>\n

That altitude makes the new debris particularly concerning.<\/p>\n

NASA says<\/a> debris at about 500 miles (800 km) can remain in orbit for decades or even centuries, depending on its size and other factors. The atmosphere is simply too thin at that altitude to slow objects down quickly. The Meteor 2-7 debris could therefore remain a hazard to spacecraft for a very long time.<\/p>\n

What happened to Meteor 2-7?<\/p>\n

There are a couple scenarios that might explain why Meteor 2-7 broke up. First, an internal failure or explosion might have occurred. On the other hand, it might have collided with another object in low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

Jim Shell<\/a>, an orbital debris expert, has narrowed down the time of the event to 09:45 UTC<\/a> +\/- 10 minutes on October 5, 2026. Shell speculates the cause might have been a collision but said it will likely remain a mystery. Shell said on X<\/a>: <\/p>\n

Meteor 2-7\u2019s altitude of 855 km is in a dense region for orbital debris. Might we have experienced an impact from one of the numerous untracked debris objects? It is furthermore observed that the event time estimate places the 81 degree inclined satellite near its highest latitude position where the debris spatial density is highest. We will likely never know\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"ImageThis graphic shows the orbit of the satellite that broke up on October 5, 2026. The satellite was in a dense region of low-Earth orbit when the breakup occurred. Image via Jim Shell<\/a>\/ Orbital data courtesy of U.S. Space Forces \u2013 Space (S4S) via Space-track.org<\/a> and used with permission per ODR 24-002-4).
\nA growing orbital debris problem<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first recent fragmentation event to attract attention. In March, LeoLabs detected dozens of objects around the SpaceX Starlink 34343 satellite<\/a> after it experienced an anomaly. SpaceX said the event was probably due to an internal energetic source rather than a collision. In August, LeoLabs also detected<\/a> the fragmentation of a Chinese Long March rocket body, producing potentially tens to hundreds of fragments. <\/p>\n

Each event adds more material to an already crowded orbital environment. Objects in low-Earth orbit travel at roughly 17,500 mph (28,000 km\/h). At those speeds, even a small piece of debris can seriously damage or destroy a spacecraft. NASA estimates<\/a> that there are hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris at least a centimeter across, along with millions of smaller fragments. <\/p>\n

\"GraphicThis plot shows the radar measurements from a follow-up pass of the satellite over Western Australia. The blue dots represent the main Meteor 2-7 satellite, while the orange dots represent fragments. The separation between the 2 groups is evidence that the satellite has produced a cloud of smaller objects. Image via LeoLabs<\/a>.
\nCould this lead to the Kessler Syndrome?<\/p>\n

The growing number of objects raises the specter of Kessler Syndrome<\/a>, a potential chain reaction in which collisions create debris, that debris causes more collisions, and those collisions create still more debris.<\/p>\n

NASA scientist Donald Kessler and NASA colleague Burton Cour-Palais proposed the concept in 1978. The concern isn\u2019t that one satellite breakup will suddenly create an impenetrable cloud around Earth. Instead, repeated collisions<\/a> over many years could gradually make certain orbital regions increasingly hazardous. And each new satellite breakup brings us closer to an unstoppable chain of events.<\/p>\n

Read more about the Kessler Syndrome<\/a><\/p>\n

Bottom line: An inactive Soviet weather satellite has broken apart above Earth. It has added tens of debris fragments to an already crowded low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

Kelly Kizer Whitt
\n View Articles<\/a><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/p>\n

Kelly Kizer Whitt writes and edits some of the most fascinating stories at EarthSky.org. She’s been writing about science, with a focus on astronomy, for decades. She began her career at Astronomy Magazine and made regular contributions to other outlets, including AstronomyToday and the Sierra Club. She has nine published books, including a children’s picture book, Solar System Forecast, and a young adult dystopian novel, A Different Sky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On October 5, 2026, another satellite breakup occurred in low-Earth orbit. LeoLabs \u2014 a company that tracks satellites…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-627857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}