An American military satellite has disintegrated in orbit.
On December 19, the U.S. Space Force announced that the malfunctioning American military meteorological satellite DMSP-5D2 F14 had disintegrated in orbit, resulting in the formation of over 50 pieces of debris.
2024-12-23 10:00:21https://naked-science.ru/community/1018903
The destruction occurred on December 18 at 16:10 Moscow time, at an altitude of 840 kilometers.
The DMSP-5D2 F14 satellite was launched in 1997 as part of the U.S. Department of Defense's meteorological satellite program. It conducted Earth observations while in a sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite was decommissioned in 2020, but it remained in space.
DMSP-5D2 F14 is far from the first satellite of this family to break apart in orbit. A similar fate befell F11 in 2004, F13 in February 2015, and F12 in October 2016.