On February 10, 2009, an active Iridium communications satellite and a derelict Soviet military spacecraft slammed into each other 789 kilometers above Siberia. The collision produced more than 2,300 pieces of trackable debris that are still up there. Seventeen years later, the Iridium-Cosmos collision remains the event that made space debris a policy problem the world could no longer ignore.
A startup built on Cold War-era radar science now tracks 25,000 objects in orbit - and the Pentagon can't get enough of it. But can its radars really compete with the Space Surveillance Network?
STARLINK-34343 broke apart at 560 kilometers. SpaceX's response - launch more satellites the next morning - tells you everything about the confidence gap between fleet statistics and individual failure modes.
A 90-kilogram spacecraft with iodine thrusters and two Australian-built cameras is quietly building the case that tracking space debris is a business worth billions - and that a four-year-old startup from Irvine can own it.
NASA's Van Allen Probe A (1,300 lbs) reenters today after 14 years studying Earth's radiation belts. Most debris will burn up; ocean impact statistically likely.
Iran launches drones and missiles at UAE and Saudi targets. Space Force opens secretive tracking data to commercial firms. Falcon 9 breakup linked to lithium pollution in upper atmosphere.
