Information published in NASA’s “Orbital Debris Report” Volume 13 Issue 2 (April 2009) shows that the orbital debris created by the collision between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 on February 10 has created more debris than first thought.
Computer analysis of the orbits of both satellites prior to impact show that they were almost at right angles to each other and impacted at a velocity of 11 kilometers per second. Preliminary assessment shows that the orbital decay time for much of the debris field will be decades, proving a significant risk …