The Joint Space Operations Center here increased its daily conjunction assessment screening capabilities for maneuverable satellites by almost 700 percent Aug. 23.
In less than seven months, the JSpOC went from tracking 120 active maneuverable satellites to 807.
The JSpOC performs these satellite screenings to mitigate the danger of any satellites colliding with the more than 21,000 objects currently orbiting in space. After the collision of the United States’ Iridium 33 and Russia’s Cosmos 2251 satellites, the need for better screening capabilities became a priority.
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