U.S. Military satellite DMSP-5D2 F-14 encountered an unexpected "low-velocity fragmentation event" on December 18th. The 750kg U.S. Military Weather Satellite had fuel and batteries drained during decomissioning in 2020, then left in Sun-synchronous orbit. However, it is part of a family of spacecraft suffering breakup events in Earth orbit. A sister craft, F-12 broke up in October 2016, F-13 in February 2015 and F11 in 2004.
There remains concern that a similar design was used for the NOAA civilian polar-orbiting weather satellites, noting NOAA-16 broke up in 2016 and NOAA-17 broke up in 2021. It appears that the "passivation" process at the end of their lifespan may not be fully effective for these older spacecraft, leading to the unfortunate explosive disassembly we have seen.
LeoLabs and Slingshot Aerospace have stated they were tracking the breakup event which at current radar readings notes 50 objects from the fragmentation.
SpaceForce continues to monitor the situation and the potential for debris interaction with other orbital craft or similar debris fields.
Keywords: Space U.S. Military Weather Satellite Break-up Debris