On 24 January, space debris experts at ESA’s mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, alerted the Swarm flight control team that one of their three satellites, Swarm-B, would have a close call from a 15-cm chunk of the former Cosmos 375. Here’s what happened next.
A space debris avoidance manoeuvre planned for ESA’s Swarm mission proved unnecessary last week, but the close encounter highlighted the growing risk from space debris.
