Pentagon is monitoring a close pass between NASA’s Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Mission (TIMED) spacecraft and the Russian Cosmos 2221 satellite, NASA said, in a blog post early Wednesday.
Though the spacecraft are expected to miss each other, a collision could result in significant debris, the US space agency said, adding that it was continuing to monitor the situation with the US Department of Defense. The statement did not say how close the spacecraft would come to each other. The two satellites, which cannot manoeuvre, are expected to make their closest pass about 1:30 am EST on Feb. 28, at an altitude of about 600 km, NASA said.
The TIMED mission is studying the influence of the Sun and humans on the least explored and understood region of Earth’s atmosphere – the mesosphere and lower thermosphere/ionosphere. This region is a gateway between Earth and space, where the Sun’s energy is first deposited into Earth’s environment.
This comes a week after media reports said that Russia and the US have committed to ongoing collaboration in manned spaceflight even after the conclusion of the ISS program. In an interview with the news portal Pro Kosmos on Monday, Yuri Borisov, General Director of the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, said Russia is in discussions with colleagues at NASA about continuing cooperation in the field of manned space travel, despite political discord.
The aim is to ensure the continued safety of space activities, The Voice of America reported. Borisov noted that this cooperation will involve integrating assembled modules to facilitate mutual support between the two sides in times of need, adding that Roscosmos plans to conduct more than 40 launches of spacecraft or satellites this year.
(With agency inputs)
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