The U.S. Space Agency (NASA) reported that the collision occurred last Tuesday between U.S. commercial satellite communications and a Russian military satellite out of service occurred in more than 800 miles high above Siberia, Russia.
was noted that risks can represent this accident to the International Space Station and the shuttle launch, later this month, appear to be few.
Some reports indicate that hundreds of pieces left by the crash are being monitored and it is believed that the magnitude of the accident will not be known until within several weeks.
The question now is whether some of these pieces can reach the space station, which orbits land about 435 km below the site of the collision.
According to the Washington Post, a NASA memo indicates that the risk is "high", but that damage can cause "very small and within acceptable limits."
The Russian satellite, cylindrical in shape, had a mass of about 800 kilos and was known as the Cosmos 2251. Was launched in June 1993 and was declared out of operation for ten years.
The U.S. satellite belonged to the private company Iridium Satellite LLC and shaped like a box with wings. Weighed 600 kilograms and had been put into orbit in 1997
According to Rupert Wingfield, a correspondent for the BBC in Moscow, the Russian space agency seems to want to distance themselves from any responsibility for the accident, describing the Cosmos 2251 as Soviet-era junk "
However, Wingfield says it can also be the agency, who is a civilian, just do not know about this case.
Our correspondent says it is much more concerned about the opinion of a Russian space expert, who said that the debris from the collision may clash with other satellites, including some disused Cold War era, which were moved with energy nuclear.
If that happens, he noted, could form a belt of radioactive debris that would orbit the Earth.
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