According to Ukrinform, this situation was reported by the BBC.

Dish’s EchoStar-7 satellite, launched in 2002, was in a geostationary orbit starting at 36,000 km above Earth. Dish was supposed to move the satellite, which ran out of fuel, almost 300 km from Earth, but only moved it 122 km.

The FCC said the Dish satellite, at its current altitude, poses a potential danger to other satellites orbiting Earth.

Dish admitted liability and agreed to a “compliance plan” with the FCC.

The $150,000 penalty represents a tiny fraction of Dish’s $16.7 billion in total revenue in 2022. But Dr., senior lecturer in astrophysics at the University of Central Lancashire. According to Megan Argo, the penalty may still have an impact on other satellite operators.

“The more vehicles in orbit, the greater the risk of collisions causing high-speed debris generation. This could continue and potentially lead to collisions with other satellites, which could cause more debris and cause a cascading reaction.” said Argo.

Space debris is equipment that was in orbit around Earth but is no longer in use and could collide with other satellites.

It is estimated that more than 10,000 satellites have been launched into space since the first satellite was launched in 1957, and more than half of them are not currently in use.

According to NASA, there are more than 25,000 pieces of space debris longer than 10 cm in space.

“Even a piece of paint… flies in the wrong direction at an orbital speed of 17,500 miles per hour [може] shooting an astronaut going into space. It can be fatal,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

As Ukrinform reports, Canada plans to launch its own satellite into orbit that will track dangerous space debris.

Illustrative photo: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY