But, how exactly do objects disappear in space?
TheInfra-Red Calibration Balloon(S73-7) satellite was part of the United States Air Forces Space Test Program.
The tiny satellite was supposed to inflate in orbit and serve as a calibration target for remote sensing equipment.
A view of Earth from orbit.Photo: Inspiration4
Its deployment, however, failed, and it became another piece of space junk.
The S73-7 satellite has been rediscovered after being untracked for 25 years.
New TLEs for object 7244 started appearing on Apr 25.
The Air Force’s KH-9 Hexagon satellite, pictured above, deployed the tiny IRCB (S73-7) satellite in 1974.Illustration: U.S. Air Force
Its basically like air traffic control, McDowell said.
Theres actually a hole in the tracking, McDowell said.
If you hug the equator, you’ve got the option to hide from the tracking.
If you dont know exactly where the maneuver was, you may have trouble locating it, McDowell said.
Most things that end up go missing in space are either defunct satellites or broken up fragments of debris.
If youre missing one or two objects, thats not a huge risk, McDowell said.
But you want to do as good a job as you’re free to.
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Experts say its complicated.
