# recent satellite collision

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-satellite-collision/485524>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 12, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-satellite-collision/485524 "2009-02-12T14:22:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jamiepearce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jamiepearce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamiepearce)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-satellite-collision/485524/1 "2009-02-12T14:22:32Z")

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> **[Russian, U.S. satellites collide in space - CNN.com](http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/12/us.russia.satellite.crash/index.html)**
>
> Two satellites, one Russian and one American, have collided some 800 kilometers (500 miles) above Siberia, the Russian and U.S. space agencies, said Thursday.

Don’t satellites get tracked? How come no one predicted this was going to happen?

I appreciate one was “out of control” - but doesn’t that just mean it could not be controlled i.e. was just orbiting normally?

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**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recent-satellite-collision/485524/2 "2009-02-12T15:14:40Z")

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After looking at this site a few times I’m surprised ther’e aren’t more.[http://science.nasa.gov/RealTime/jtrack/](http://science.nasa.gov/RealTime/jtrack/)