The satellite broke into more than a hundred pieces around 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday, June 26. The remains of "Resurs-P" made the ISS crew worry. The astronauts from Earth were even given the command to prepare for a possible emergency evacuation from the station.
Beginning at approximately 8:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, June 26, NASA instructed crews aboard the space station to take shelter in their spacecraft as a standard precaution after a satellite breakup was reported at an altitude close to where the station was on Wednesday.
About an hour later, the threat passed, and the astronauts returned to their places. However, the debris from the satellite may still potentially harm both the ISS and satellite constellations.
It is known that the disaster did not hinder the Russian presence in space. The destroyed remote sensing satellite "Resurs-P" was decommissioned at the end of 2021. Satellites of this group are engaged in remote sensing of the Earth, are capable of high-precision shooting and, in general, according to their characteristics, if necessary, can be used by Russia for military purposes.
The causes of the incident have not been established, but there may be several. First, the spent satellite could have been hit by an unidentified piece of space debris. Secondly, the satellite may not have been fully passivated at the end of its mission. Simply put, it was not properly turned off, and it may have contained energy sources that led to self-destruction. Thirdly, some American media note that "Resurs-P" could have been a victim of Russian anti-satellite weapons, in the launch of which Moscow was recently accused.
Read more on the topic:
Floods, fires, objects from 70 cm – what and how the Russian "Resurs-P" sees from space
Russian space security system "Milky Way": what is known about it
Russian Starlink from "Bureau 1440" is already transmitting signals between satellites and to Earth
