Less than a day after news of the unprecedented in-orbit collision between the active Iridium communications and defunct Russian satellites, the software company AGI has already carried out an analysis of the event. A detailed animation has been released depicting the velocity, angle of impact and statistical distribution of debris. Although the CGI is missing (I would have liked to have seen at least an explosion, shockwave and shards of twisted smoking metal. Come on guys, have a little fun!), it is a great visual aid for us to get a grip of what happened up there. To be honest I’m still blown away that this happened at all. There might be a lot of junk up there, but the statistical likelihood of this happening is still low.
You can also download the full-resolution AGI animation of the incident at their website…
Here are some visualizations of the impact in full 3D glory. All images courtesy of Analytical Graphics, Inc. (www.agi.com):
A special thanks to Stefanie Claypoole at AGI for notifying me about this material.
astroengine.com 