The International Space Station (ISS) was repositioned on Tuesday, November 19, to move it well out of the way of approaching space debris, NASA reported.
Station operators fired the thrusters on the docked Progress 89 spacecraft for just over five minutes to raise the orbit of the ISS in a maneuver that provided an extra margin of distance from a piece of orbital debris, which came from a defunct defense meteorological satellite that broke up in 2015.
“Without the maneuver, ballistics officials estimated that the fragment could have come within around 2.5 miles of the station,” NASA said, adding that the procedure, known as the Pre-determined Debris Avoidance Maneuver (PDAM), had no effect on ISS activities and will not affect Thursday’s scheduled launch of the Progress 90 cargo craft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The ISS, which orbits at around 250 miles above Earth, occasionally has its orbit adjusted to move it clear of approaching space debris, as a direct impact could be catastrophic for the facility and the astronauts on board.
Occasionally, the space junk — which can include spent rocket parts, defunct satellites, and smaller fragments that have resulted in previous collisions — is deemed such a threat that those aboard the ISS have been ordered to seek temporary shelter in their docked spacecraft in case the station is badly damaged and the crew needs to return to Earth.
Up until the summer 2023, the station had performed a total of 37 avoidance maneuvers since it went into operation in 2000.
The issue of space debris is becoming increasingly serious as more and more satellites are launched to low-Earth orbit. To counter the threat posed by the debris, those operating in space have been working to improve tracking capabilities, while a number of private firms are developing systems to clear low-Earth orbit of the problematic junk.