Impact damage to Sentinel-1A satellite solar array. These images show Sentinel-1A's solar array before and after the impact of a millimetre-size particle on the second panel, on 23 August 2016. The damaged area (red arrow) has a diameter of about 40 centimetres, which is consistent on this structure with the impact of a fragment of less than 5 millimetres in size. The Sentinel-1 mission is part of the Copernicus programme, which consists of two identical satellites simultaneously orbiting the earth and providing continuous imagery of all Earth's land surfaces. Because of the high velocities involved, even impacts from small particles of space debris can cause severe damage to spacecraft. | |
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Credit: | Science Photo Library / ESA |
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