US Air Force Satellite Blows Up in Orbit Due to Temperature Spike
After serving reliably for two decades, a military weather satellite exploded while in orbit early last month.
The news was conveyed by US Air Force authorities to SpaceNews. Explosion of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Flight 13 was attributed to a sudden spike in the satellite's power sub-system. Even as operators were trying to save it, they noticed debris in the satellite's vicinity. The Air Force has maintained that the satellite's loss will not affect weather services as it was being used only has a backup since 2006.
The Telegraph reported counting of at least 43 satellite debris pieces of DMSP 13 which are now orbiting the planet. Authorities will continue to monitor the litter to determine if they would affect other bodies in the orbit.
Discovery News reported that the same fate befell another DMSP satellite a decade ago. The launch of DMSP 20, the final iteration in the DMSP series is under contemplation. It was earlier scheduled for launch in 2016.
"The Joint Space Operations Center continues to monitor these items for conjunction assessment with other on-orbit assets. There are six remaining DMSP satellites that will continue to provide assured, secure, global environmental sensing data to our users," a statement from Air Force reads.
