The Breakup of DMSP-F13

摘要

The breakup of an aging U.S. Air Force weather satellite Feb. 3 has drawn fresh attention to the always smoldering orbital debris issue, including the U.S. government's orbital data sharing practices. According to the Air Force, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13 satellite (DMSP-F13), which launched in 1995 and had long been relegated to backup duty, broke up after its power system experienced "a sudden spike in temperature" followed by an "unrecoverable loss of attitude control." Some experts speculated that the event, which left more than 60 pieces of observable debris in an orbital belt heavily used by environmental, weather and imaging satellites, was caused by a catastrophic battery failure.