ISS Evades Space Junk in Daring Maneuver

On Tuesday, November 19, the International Space Station (ISS) took urgent measures to protect itself from a potentially hazardous piece of space debris. A Russian Progress cargo spacecraft docked with the ISS fired its thrusters for a critical 5.5 minutes, starting at 3:09 p.m. EST (2009 GMT), to ensure that the space station would safely avoid the incoming debris.

NASA officials revealed that this operation, known as the Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM), was executed in close coordination with Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, and other partners involved in the ISS program. The debris posed a significant risk, with ballistic experts estimating that it could have come within approximately 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of the space station if the maneuver had not been conducted.

The object feared in this incident was a remnant from a defunct defense meteorological satellite that disintegrated in 2015. The space surrounding our planet is becoming increasingly congested, making these kinds of evasive actions more frequent and necessary.

Indeed, NASA conducted an analysis in December 2022 which revealed that the ISS had performed evasive burns a staggering 32 times since it first became operational in 1999. Just earlier this year, in March 2023 alone, the ISS had to execute avoidance maneuvers twice within a single week, highlighting the growing threat posed by numerous satellites and defunct rocket stages lingering in low Earth orbit.

This well-timed maneuver occurred just two hours before a significant space event—SpaceX's sixth test flight of the massive Starship rocket, which successfully lifted off from the company’s Starbase site in South Texas at 5:00 p.m. EST (2200 GMT). As space traffic increases, what does this mean for future missions and safety in orbit?

Stay tuned as we continue to cover how space agencies adapt to the ever-growing challenge of space debris and the implications for our exploration efforts and the safety of astronauts aboard the ISS!