A US military satellite exploded after detecting an unexplained “sudden spike in temperature”, sending dozens of chunks of debris tumbling into different orbits around Earth.
Civilian company CelesTrak was first to notice the explosion of the once-secret weather satellite and the US Air Force subsequently confirmed that it had been lost.
The satellite was an ageing component of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program which the US military began developing the in the 1960s to help plan reconnaissance and surveillance missions.
h/t Matt Bracken
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…”sudden spike in temperature”… Gee I wonder if the Chinese or Russian were testing their anti-satellite lasers again and accidently laid them on an incorrect(heh, heh, heh) azimuth
Well, “warning shots” are not customary for either the Russians or the Chinese, so I have to be at least somewhat skeptical of that hypothesis, although a “sudden spike in temperature” certainly would be consistent with a shot from a land-based laser (or combo particle-beam/laser weapon).
I guess we should all watch out for Brilliant Pebbles from now on, too?