Orbit raised

ISS space station had to avoid space debris

The International Space Station (ISS) was recently maneuvered into a higher orbit once again in order to avoid a collision with space debris. The evasive maneuver was carried out with the help of the propulsion system of a "Progress" capsule docked to the ISS, NASA announced.

"The engines of 'Progress 89' (a Russian supply capsule, note) were fired for five minutes and 31 seconds at 2:09 p.m. CST today to raise the orbit of the ISS and create additional distance from a piece of space debris from a defective satellite that broke apart in 2015," it said in a statement published on the website of the US space agency NASA on Tuesday.

According to the agency, the pre-determined debris avoidance maneuver (PDAM for short) was carried out in coordination with NASA, its Russian counterpart Roskosmos and the other partners of the ISS space station.

Increasingly frequent avoidance maneuvers necessary
Without the manoeuvre, experts estimate that the piece of space debris would have come within about two and a half miles (the equivalent of four kilometers) of the ISS. Such evasive maneuvers are not uncommon: a NASA analysis from December 2022 reported that the ISS has performed evasive maneuvers no fewer than 32 times since 1999.

This number has increased since then - in March 2023, for example, the ISS dodged space debris twice in just one week - and the number will continue to rise as low Earth orbit becomes increasingly cluttered with satellites and debris, such as disused rocket stages.

Debris makes space travel increasingly dangerous
Debris from decommissioned satellites and the remains of old rockets are making space travel increasingly dangerous, especially near the earth. Even small, sharp-edged fragments can tear threatening holes in spaceships or destroy probes. Without countermeasures, experts fear that thousands of fragments could make space flights almost impossible at some point.