US military to expand satellite monitoring programme…

The US military plans to boost the number of satellites it routinely monitors for the risk of a smash-up with orbiting debris. The move could prevent future accidents like the recent collision between a US communications satellite and a defunct Russian probe.

The US Air Force has catalogued more than 19,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 centimetres across, General Robert Kehler, Commander of Air Force Space Command, told reporters on Tuesday at the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

But despite the extensive catalogue, the military does not have the ability to calculate the risk this space junk poses to every operational satellite (see Satellite crash prediction is plagued with uncertainty). “We keep that catalogue up to date, but we do not watch everything for collision purposes all the time,” Kehler said.
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