Russian spacecraft saves ISS station from unexpected threat

According to NASA's announcement on the evening of March 8, the incident on the International Space Station (ISS) occurred at 7:42 a.m. on March 6, Eastern time (about 7:42 p.m. the same day, Vietnam time).

This was a joint decision by the space agencies of many countries participating in the ISS, after a space object threatened to cut across the station's orbit. The mission was a great success.

Russian spacecraft saves ISS station from unexpected threat - 1 — The International Space Station ISS. (Photo: NASA/ROSCOSMOS)

Progress 83 is a cargo spacecraft of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), "docked" with the ISS on February 11. This Russian ship is still anchored at the station, so it can use its engines to move the station short distances.

The threat is believed to come from Nusat-17, an Argentine Earth observation satellite launched in 2020 and operated by the country's geospatial data company Satellogic, Space newspaper quoted scientist Sandra Jones from NASA's Johnson Space Center as saying.

Dr. Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (USA) said that Nusat-17 is experiencing orbital decay, meaning it is no longer flying in its original orbit, and there are signs of overlapping with the ISS orbit, which could lead to a collision.

NASA received just 30 hours of notice before the potential collision, forcing them and their partners to urgently calculate a rescue plan.

According to a report by the space agency in December 2022, the ISS has made a total of 32 moves to avoid satellites and space debris since 1999. This may become more frequent in the future because scientists have long warned that the station's orbit is filled with space junk from damaged satellites and spacecraft.

Collisions in space could pose a serious threat to the ISS crew and cause damage to the station. Two other Russian spacecraft have recently crashed, a Soyuz crew capsule and another Progress cargo capsule, both of which suffered coolant leaks.

NASA and Roscosmos both determined that the Soyuz spacecraft was hit by a piece of debris or a small space rock. The incident caused 3 astronauts from these 2 agencies to almost be "stranded" at the ISS because they had no means of returning.

Roscosmos has sent another empty Soyuz spacecraft to the station to replace them, but these astronauts will have to extend their working time by a few more months while waiting for Russia to "ship" another Soyuz spacecraft, because the one that was supposed to carry three other astronauts to take over their mission was used for the rescue mission.

(Source: Nguoi Lao Dong/Space)

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