Another Russian satellite broke apart in orbit, leaving pile of junk

According to LeoLabs, which monitors space objects, another old Russian satellite has dropped into low Earth orbit, leaving behind a mound of space trash.

This time, this concerns Resurs-P1, the Earth observation satellite, which was launched in June 2013 and deactivated in December 2021.

LeoLabs has detected a debris-generating event in Low Earth Orbit.

Early indications are that a non-operational Russian spacecraft, Resurs P1 (SATNO 39186), released a number of fragments between 13:05 UTC 26 June and 00:51 UTC 27 June.

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— LeoLabs (@LeoLabs_Space) June 27, 2024

The 6.5-tonne satellite was in a 350 x 363 km orbit and disintegrated into "numerous fragments" between 03:05 UTC on 26 June and 00:51 UTC on 27 June 2024.

The Russian satellite is still in Earth’s orbit and will continue to pose a threat to spacecraft from other countries.

In February 2024, LeoLabs announced that Russia's and the United States' satellites nearly collided in orbit.

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