Neowin reported that two satellites had smashed into each other in space and the results are now coming into the light. The space telescope Hubble may be in trouble because of the debris left behind from the collision.
"Clearly debris from the event is going through the altitude that the Hubble flies, so we're going to be looking at what is the new risk to Hubble," said Nicholas Johnson the chief scientist at the Orbital Debris Office at NASA's Johnson.
Over one thousand pieces of debris are now orbiting the Earth that can present many problems not only for Hubble. The pieces are flying at about 17,500 MPH and at that speed even the smallest of pieces can damage other space objects.
The biggest concern is that Hubble has no evasive options. There are no onboard rockets to alter the flight path of Hubble and even the smallest imperfection to the mirrors will have significant impact on the telescope.
There is a scheduled mission to Hubble in May for a final service call to the telescope. The risk assessment will have to be addressed to see if the debris will pose any threat to the space shuttle or astronauts during the space flight.
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