November 5, 2014

Image Caption: This image of the International Space Station with the docked Europe's ATV Johannes Kepler and Space Shuttle Endeavour was taken by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli from Soyuz TMA-20 following its undocking on 24 May 2011. Credit: ESA/NASA

Provided by the European Space Agency

The International Space Station was threatened by space debris last week but ESAs Automated Transfer Vehicle saved the day by firing its thrusters to push the orbital outpost and its six occupants out of harms way.

This is the first time the Stations international partners have avoided space debris with such urgency.

Ground stations continuously track space junk leftover hardware from defunct satellites for potentially life-threatening collisions. A fleck of paint can cause major damage traveling at 28 800 km/h. When they raise the alarm, ground teams can move the Station to a safer orbit.

The calculations sometimes take hours this is rocket science but fortunately, most of the time, the radar network gives ample warning. Sometimes a dangerous object can slip through the net or its erratic behavior makes accurate predictions difficult.

This is where Europes ATV Georges Lematre came in on October27 . A piece of Russias Cosmos-2251 satellite that broke up after colliding with another satellite in 2009 was on a collision course with the International Space Station. The object was around the size of a hand and calculations showed it would pass within 4 km too close for comfort.

Just six hours before potential impact, the five space Station agencies agreed to an emergency maneuver. The ATV Control Centre team in Toulouse, France, triggered a boost of 1.8 km/h, enough to raise the 420-tonne Station by 1 km and out of harms way.

Hope for the best

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ESA Space Ferry Moves Space Station To Avoid Debris