NASA Forced to Fire ISS Thrusters to Dodge Russian Space Debris

NASA has announced that the International Space Station (ISS) executed an orbital course correction on Monday. The ISS rarely needs to adjust its orbit, but it was necessary in this case to avoid a piece of Russian space debris. The agency says the dangerous bit of junk came from the Cosmos 1408 satellite, which Russia destroyed in an anti-satellite-weapons test in late 2021.

The crew fired the engines on Progress 81 (fittingly, a Russian cargo vessel) docked at the station for about five minutes (305 seconds). Following the maneuver, the station’s apogee (highest point in its orbit) was raised by 0.2 miles. Its perigee (the lowest point) was elevated by 0.8 miles. That was enough to steer well clear of the debris, which was projected to pass within three miles of the station. Even a small piece of space junk could seriously damage the station and risk the lives of astronauts due to its high speed relative to the ISS.

NASA says the Pre-Determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM) on Monday evening did not impact space station operations. However, this may become a more common operation as the orbit around Earth becomes increasingly crowded. The testing of anti-satellite weapons certainly isn’t improving matters either. Russia’s decision in November 2021 to test its anti-satellite weaponry on its own satellite produced over 1,500 pieces of trackable debris, all of them potentially dangerous to space operations.

The station raised its orbit today maneuvering to avoid orbital debris that could have passed within about three miles of the orbiting lab. https://t.co/e4lUZzPvtr

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 25, 2022

NASA played it straight when announcing the course correction, leaving its probable frustration with the Russians unsaid. The agency got about as spicy as it could when commenting on the destruction of Cosmos 1408. After the test, Russia was roundly criticized by the world’s space agencies, including NASA, which called the test “dangerous and irresponsible.” More recently, Russia has threatened to use similar weapons against SpaceX Starlink Satellites, which are providing connectivity to Ukrainian military forces in their war with Russia.

As illustrated by this maneuver, an escalation of space warfare that involves picking off satellites could put the ISS and other missions at grave risk. That’s one of the reasons the US proposed an end to orbital weapons tests several weeks ago. It’s unlikely Russia would agree to such a ban — it’s already leaning away from working with other space agencies. Earlier this year, Russia’s Roscosmos announced that it would pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 so it could focus on building its own station.