US and Russian satellites collide. What really happened?

Question

here's the link to the article:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/090212/technology/us_space_accident_satellite_6

Doesn't anyone find it fishy that despite what NASA, STRATCOM and other space agencies calls "a very low risk" and "the risk is considered very low", two satellites just happened to collide very spectacularly, and not just a glancing blow.

There is lots of space junk in orbit, but relatively few satellites. How come two of them just happened to hit each other so accurately?
Anybody think it may be the US trying to disable a Russian spy satellite before it uncovered something important? A anti satellite missile launch would be detected visually and by radar by countries all over the world. Making a very old, near-worthless satellite take out another may not be such a crazy proposition in this case.
The Cold war is over you say, but still, it doesn't mean the US isn't testing out a new improvised satellite weapon. After all, there are more and more old defunct satellites in orbit, most with a small amount of  maneuvering fuel left, the US might as well take the hint from Iraq and create some ISKs of their own. (Improvised satellite killers)
This may actually be a salvage of the "star wars" plan they were floating around to scare the USSR during the Cold War.

What are your theories?
Do you think mine is even possible to pull off?

alien3starr · Accepted Answer

The Russian satellite was a 15-10 year old communications satellite used to give reception to cell phone users in Russia. It was owned by a private company and had nothing to do with the Russian government. It was an accident. There are 1,000's of satellites, many of which have had minor collisions in the past. The fact that this ONE major collision occured out of the thousands of satellites in existence and currently in orbit shows how unlikely it is, but that it was bound to happen eventually. Planes are unlikely to crash, but they still do sometimes. The Russian satellite lost control and tumbled into the US one. The US didn't even know this had happened until it showed up on our detection systems. Considering that the US Satellite was where it was supposed to have been in it's orbit, I find it much more likely that the Russians were the ones who destroyed the US satellite on purpose, and even this is extremely unlikely. Why would we sacrifice one of our commercial satellites to destroy a communications satellite over Siberia? It's illogical. This was an accident, not a conspiracy theory.

? · Answer

US and Russian satellites collided. Nothing more. While it is possible to pull off, it makes no practical sense. Allow me to explain: If US wanted to disable Russian satellite, they would've blown it out of the space without using a civilian (and very expensive) satellite. If they did not want to use a surface-launched missile, US has long since set a set of orbital "space mines" - military satellites capable of engaging and destroying the opponent. There are a lot cheaper solutions available then paying the expenses to the Iridium owners (or whatever that satellite name was). As for discovering something secret - makes no sense. Any intelligence satellite sends out whatever it discovered right away - precisely to prevent the enemy from destroying the satellite and covering whatever it was investigating up.

Aleks · Answer

It looks like the "Russian spy satellite" is at least 15 years old. I'm not even sure that it is a working satellite, not a big piece of space junk.

Anonymous · Answer

Might be an attack, but most likely an accident. Both crash 500 miles above Siberia.

Anonymous · Answer

they ran in to each other. it happens.

US and Russian satellites collide. What really happened?

5 Answers