Cerise satellite collision. Artwork showing the French military spy satellite Cerise,launched on 7 July 1995,being hit by space debris on 24 July 1996. This is thought to be the first documented case of a collision between two man-made objects in space. The debris was from an Ariane rocket,and hit the satellite's gravity-gradient stabilization boom at speeds of around 14 kilometres per second. This caused the satellite to start tumbling end-over-end. Despite this,the ground crew managed to reprogram the satellite to allow the mission to continue. The satellite was in a polar orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometres at the time it was hit | |
Lizenzart: | Lizenzpflichtig |
Credit: | Science Photo Library / Ducros, David |
Bildgröße: | 5041 px × 3496 px |
Modell-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Eigentums-Rechte: | nicht erforderlich |
Restrictions: | - |