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The Conversation
The Conversation
Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology

4,300 tonnes of space junk and rising: another satellite breakup adds to orbital debris woes

Intelsat

A large communications satellite has broken up in orbit, affecting users in Europe, Central Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, and adding to the growing swarm of space junk clouding our planet’s neighbourhood.

The Intelsat 33e satellite provided broadband communication from a point some 35,000km above the Indian Ocean, in a geostationary orbit around the equator.

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