By RIA Novosti,
Korolyov (Russia) : The wreckage of the US and Russian satellites that collided Tuesday poses a serious threat to other satellites on the same orbit, a Russian Mission Control official told journalists Friday.
“The 800 km is a very popular orbit for remote Earth sensing and telecommunications satellites,” said Vladimir Solovyov, head of the Russian segment of the International Space Station.
“There are a lot of communications satellites there, many of them still in operation. There are 66 Iridium series satellites alone on that orbit. The cloud (of debris) from the collision is a serious threat to them,” he said.
US Iridium satellite and the defunct Russian Cosmos-2251 collided approximately 800 km above Siberia, which was the first time such an incident has occurred.