According to BGR report, another space debris cloud appears in orbit around the earth. This particular "cloud" was created by the explosion of an old Russian rocket engine** At present, the 18th Space Control Squadron of the US space force is tracking 16 debris related to the incident.
The U.S. space force classified the exploded object as object No. 32398. Reporter Anatoly Zak said that the object itself is an old Russian rocket engine. The empty shell engine is part of a space tug that helped put three Russian GLONASS satellites into orbit in 2007.
A Russian proton rocket completed most of the heavy tasks for the satellite launch in 2007. However, the upper stage of the rocket has two small tail engines. According to Jonathan McDowell, Russia uses these empty shell engines to help the upper stage accelerate slightly.
McDowell is an astrophysicist and satellite tracker who works at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
These small engines basically help ensure that the fuel is positioned correctly in the fuel tank. This is important for any engine restart required after the rocket reaches orbit. However, these old Russian rocket engines did not run out of propellant at the time of launch. As a result, they tend to explode years or even decades later. This forms a mass of space debris in orbit.
Space debris and space junk are not a new factor. In the past, space debris has threatened the international space station. Moreover, scientists have even found new ways to fight space junk.
However, these efforts are still ongoing. This can't be the last time we hear about the explosion of an old rocket engine in space.
McDowell said there are currently at least 64 empty shell engines in orbit. Besides, this is not the first explosion.
According to McDowell's tweet, at least 54 empty shell engines have exploded over the years. Russia also calls these old Russian rocket engines Soz engines. Soz is short for "sistema obespecheniya zapuska". Roughly translated as "launch support system".
The old Russian engine that just exploded is orbiting the earth in an elliptical orbit. At its nearest location, it will enter a range of 241 miles from the earth. At its farthest point, the Russian rocket engine will be 11852 miles from the earth. Due to this orbit, the debris field will take some time to re-enter the earth's atmosphere.
Eventually, however, the satellite orbit predicted that the debris event would occur at some time. "So -- this debris event is predictable and well understood; it's still very unfortunate," McDowell wrote in a tweet. Experts are currently tracking more than 173 debris objects from similar explosions of Russian rocket engines.