Debris forces International Space Station to take evasive action
"The engines of the spaceship Progress MS-18 will be turned on at 4:30 pm Moscow time (1330 GMT)," the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. The cargo vessel is docked at the station. This will cause the ISS to accelerate at a rate of 1 metre per second and move it 1.8 kilometres further up to avoid space debris.
- Economy
- DPA
- Published Date: 03:13 | 23 April 2022
- Modified Date: 03:13 | 23 April 2022
The International Space Station will be forced to undertake an unplanned evasive manoeuvre on Saturday to avoid colliding with space debris.
"The engines of the spaceship Progress MS-18 will be turned on at 4:30 pm Moscow time (1330 GMT)," the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. The cargo vessel is docked at the station.
This will cause the ISS to accelerate at a rate of 1 metre per second and move it 1.8 kilometres further up.
After the correction the ISS will be flying at a height of 414 kilometres above the Earth, according to Roscosmos. The maximum height of the space station is just above 438 kilometres.
Debris is a growing problem for space travel. The ISS regularly needs to dodge objects flying as a collision could destroy it.
In November the ISS crew had to seek shelter in two space ships that were docked at the station after the Russian military destroyed a disused satellite. Fragments had threatened to collide with the ISS, but in the end no harm was done.