Cerise (satellite)

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Cerise was a French military reconnaissance (spy) satellite. Its main purpose was to listen to the HF frequencies and help the French "information" services with their daily work.

It was hit by a catalogued space debris object from an Ariane rocket in 1996, making it the first verified case of a collision between two objects in space.[1]

The collision tore off a 4.2-metre (13-foot) portion of Cerise's gravity-gradient stabilization boom, which left the satellite severely damaged.

[edit] References

  1. ^ CO2 prolongs life of space junk. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-03-08.

[edit] External links

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