A Russian rocket part, which has been drifting around the Earth for more than a decade, suddenly exploded into many potentially dangerous pieces of space debris that could end up threatening the lives of astronauts and satellites.
The US Space Force confirmed this week that the motor of a Russian rocket broke down on April 15. At least 16 of the pieces are being tracked by experts at the Space Force.
Why did it explode after a decade of being in the air? There is a chance that the motor had residual rocket propellant inside.
It's a little bit of a time bomb, but without an actual timer, according to Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
At least 54 of them have already disintegrated in space, and 64 more are still in the air.
He told Gizmodo that these things have been popping off for a long time.
The Soviet rocket is believed to have been the source of the motor that exploded. Russia's more modern rockets should be able to avoid this problem.
Spacecraft passivation is when newer rockets discard anything that could potentially blow up before the end of their mission.
The problem is getting worse despite the assurances. NASA is tracking tens of thousands of pieces of debris that are large enough to threaten human space explorers and other robotic missions.
Our past carelessness made future missions a lot more dangerous.
The Russian motor spontaneously exploded in the sky.
Starlink Satellites had to retreat out of the way of debris.
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