The flying lab had performed a similar move twice in the previous
week.
On Tuesday, a debris avoidance move was necessary for the International
Space Station (ISS) to escape yet another fragment of space debris. (March
14).
In a
statement on Telegram, Russia's government space agency Roscosmos stated that
the event happened at 2:54 p.m. Moscow time, or 7:54 a.m. EDT (1154 GMT), on
Tuesday. Currently docked at the orbital laboratory, the Russian Progress
MS-22 cargo spacecraft ignited its engines for 135 seconds to transfer the
station to safety and raise its average height to 260 miles (419 km) above
the surface of the planet.
This event is the second time in a month that a similar move has been
required of the International Space Station. A potential collision with a
private Earth-imaging satellite was avoided on March 6 when the same
Progress ship ignited its engines for six minutes. A NASA report from 2022
claims that from 1999 to the time of the report's release, the ISS had to
make 32 identical moves to avoid satellites and trackable debris.
The Russian anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test, which was performed in
November 2021 and denounced by the international community, resulted in
debris that the International Space Station (ISS) had to escape in two
distinct avoidance maneuvers in 2022.
Similar events have caused spacewalks to be postponed and compelled pilots
to seek refuge on the ISS. With more people around the globe participating
in space flight, these events are happening more frequently. A group of NASA
scientists and other experts are now urging an international compact to
address the risky orbital debris issue as low Earth orbit becomes more and
more congested with satellites and other space garbage. As more and more
things are lofted into orbit, a workable answer has as of yet to be
discovered.
Additionally, as more space debris clogs Earth's trajectory, the likelihood
of collisions between bits of debris rises, which would lead to the creation
of even more debris.
The ISS will continue to be used by NASA until 2030, at which time it will
be deorbited and burn to death over an expanse of open water. The
organization has already begun to prepare for its retirement by preparing
the creation of spacecraft.
