TALLINN. Aug 5 (Interfax) - Estonia's first satellite ESTCube-1 avoided on Friday a collision with Russian military satellite debris. A new close encounter is probable on Sunday.
"The fragment jeopardizing our satellite zipped past our satellite at a close distance of 245 meters at 7:40 a.m. (8:40 a.m. Moscow time). Our satellite is well; its batteries are charged and its rotation speed is unchanged," ESTCube program supervisor Mart Noormaa told reporters on Friday.
A new close encounter has been predicted for 8:35 a.m. (9:35 a.m. Moscow time) on Sunday, he said. "Luckily, it will pass at a thrice bigger distance, approximately 900 meters," Noormaa said.
The ESTCube-1 university satellite was launched at 5:06 a.m. on May 7. It is circling around the Earth at the altitude of 660 kilometers at 7.6 kilometers per second. The satellite of 10 x 10 x 10 centimeters is doing "solar sail" research. It was built on the initiative of Estonian students in cooperation with foreign specialists and students.