New space debris event with Soviet satellite launched in 1981 Yesterday @LeoLabs_Space provided public notification of a debris-generating event from the defunct Soviet Meteor-2-7 satellite launched in 1981 (US catalog 12456 / 1981-043A). As of this writing, there has not been a notification of the event from @S4S_SDA via @SpaceTrackOrg . LeoLabs has reported "tens of fragments" (ref their x post in comments). This is actually the second such event from this satellite, with the first occurring in March of 2004. The Meteor-2 satellites were the 2nd generation of Soviet weather satellites. @planet4589 provides a mass estimate of ~ 1500 kg. Using pre- and post-orbital position information (element sets), the time of the debris event is approximately 2026-10-05 09:45 +/- 10 min UTC. Meteor 2-7's altitude of 855 km is in a dense region for orbital debris. Might we have experienced an impact from one of the numerous untracked debris objects? It is furthermore observed that the event time estimate places the 81 degree inclined satellite near its highest latitude position (ref graphic below), where the debris spatial density is highest. We will likely never know.... #SpaceDomainAwareness# #SpaceTrafficManagement# #LongTermSustainmentOfSpace# (Orbital data courtesy of U.S. Space Forces – Space (S4S) via and used with permission per ODR 24-002-4)