Thread | Brutkey

SpainSat NG II satellite, owned by Hisdesat and launched on 23 October, 2025, was hit by a "space particle" during orbit raising.

The extent of the damage is unknown but the Jan 2 press release says that "If necessary, SpainSat NG II will be replaced as soon as possible."

The impact occurred at 50,000 km, not LEO. 50,000 km is odd since geostationary orbit altitude = 35,786 km (42,164 km from center of earth).

Space debris or space rock?

@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
https://www.indragroup.com/en/news/the-spainsat-ng-ii-satellite-suffers-an-external-impact-during-transfer-to-its-orbital-position

AkaSci 🛰

️
@AkaSci@fosstodon.org

Hisdesat confirms that SpainSat NG II is not recoverable.

The space particle that collided with the satellite was estimated to be millimetric in size and weighed only a few grams, but the high speed particle impacted a vital area of the satellite.

The satellite was insured for $400 million.

The satellite is in a highly eccentric orbit and won’t interfere with other satellites.

A replacement SpainSat NG III satellite is planned.

https://www.indragroup.com/en/news/hisdesat-gives-the-go-ahead-to-the-launch-of-the-spainsat-ng-iii-satellite
2/n

Prof. Sam Lawler
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social

@AkaSci@fosstodon.org Orbital debris is very, very sparse at those altitudes. According to this paper (paywalled, but abstract is not) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027311772030644X: "Overall, orbital debris dominates the impact risk between altitudes of 600 and 1300 km, while meteoroids dominate below 270 km and above 4800 km"

But "space particle" is a weird way to say that!