Near Miss in Space: Russian and Korean Satellites

A South Korean weather satellite had to be moved to avoid a collision with a Russian military satellite, Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported March 11.


Russia’s Raduga 1-7 came within 3 kilometers of the Korean Cheollian satellite, orbiting at 128.2 degrees east, between March 7 and March 8, said the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, which quickly revised the Cheollian’s orbit.

The abrupt movement of Raduga 1-7 also forced two Japanese satellites to be moved.

Russia has not yet responded to Japanese and Korean requests for an explanation.