Satellite collision

Strictly speaking, a satellite collision is when two objects collide while in orbit around a third, much larger body, such as a planet or moon.

This definition can be loosely extended to include collisions between sub-orbital or escape-velocity objects with an object in orbit. Prime examples are the anti-satellite tests by the USA and China (see below).

Natural-satellite collisions

To date, there have been no observed collisions between natural satellites of any Solar System planet or moon. Collision candidates for past events are:

Artificial-satellite collisions

Three types of collisions have occurred involving artificial satellites orbiting the Earth:

Spacecraft impacts with moons

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.