China's Yaogan-50 (02) satellite has disintegrated in orbit

Another major man-made incident has been recorded in space. China's Yaogan-50 (02) satellite, launched into space in March of this year, has broken into at least 43 pieces for unknown reasons. This situation has once again brought the problem of space debris in Earth's orbit to the forefront. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .

According to ixbt.com, the disintegration of this spacecraft has been officially cataloged by the 18th Space Defense Squadron of the US Space Force. At present, the exact causes of the accident remain unknown. Experts are considering potential causes such as a failure of the engine or battery, or a collision with another space object.

Unusual orbit and its risks

The failed apparatus was launched on March 15 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center using a Long March 6A rocket into a powerful retrograde orbit, which is considered unique. In such an orbit, the satellite moves against the direction of Earth's rotation. Although this method requires more energy and reduces the rocket's payload, it allows the apparatus to move faster relative to the Earth's surface and observe mid-latitudes, including Chinese territory, more frequently.

Currently, hundreds of resulting fragments are scattered along an orbit at an altitude of 600 to 1100 kilometers. At this altitude, atmospheric drag is almost imperceptible. For this reason, the resulting space debris is expected to remain in space for decades, posing a serious threat to other operational satellites.

The global problem of space debris

Although the Chinese side has not yet made a public statement regarding the incident, four fragments associated with this apparatus have already been recorded in the country's Spacemapper space object catalog. This means that Chinese monitoring tools have also fixed this accident. Although the CASC corporation claims that Yaogan series devices are intended for agriculture and disaster relief, Western analysts assume that some of them are also used for military intelligence purposes.

Experts note that the problem of space debris has already gone beyond the scale of individual accidents. Today, about 54,000 objects larger than 10 centimeters are being tracked in orbit. Only 9,300 of them are operational devices. The number of small fragments between 1 and 10 centimeters is 1.2 million, and particles between 1 millimeter and 1 centimeter reach 140 million.