Roscosmos reported that during observations, experts recorded more than 80 fragments of the European satellite Intelsat-33e, which collapsed the other day.
The statement said that an analysis of the trajectories of the resulting fragments indicates that the destruction of the satellite on October 19 “was instantaneous and high-energy in nature.”
The state corporation believes that satellite debris is potentially dangerous for all geostationary spacecrafts.
The collection of coordinate information is ongoing to identify new fragments, after which they will be included in calculations of dangerous approaches to spacecraft of the Russian satellite grouping, the agency said.
Roscosmos first identified unidentified objects around Intelsat-33e's orbit plane on Sunday, saying the objects appeared on October 19.
Launched in August 2016 aboard an Ariane-5 carrier rocket from the Guiana Space Center, Intelsat-33e was owned by Virginia-headquartered private satellite operator Intelsat, and ostensibly used to provide telecommunications services to countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.
The satellite was designed by Boeing Space Systems, and was originally intended to have an operating life of 15 or more years at launch.
US Space Command confirmed detecting the satellite's breakup October 19, with Intelsat formally declaring its loss on Monday.
There has been no confirmation to date on what caused the breakup.
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Russia's automated system for warning of risky situations in near-Earth space has detected more than 80 fragments of the European Intelsat 33e communication satellite that fell apart on Saturday, Roscosmos told the media. The debris pose a potential threat to nearby vehicles.
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