The International Space Station (ISS) conducted a successful debris avoidance maneuver on November 25, 2024, marking the second such operation in less than a week. The maneuver was executed by Russia's Progress 89 freighter, which has been docked to the ISS since August. The thruster burn lasted approximately 3.5 minutes, repositioning the station to avoid a fragment of space debris.
NASA officials reported that the operation raised the ISS's orbit by about 1,650 feet (500 meters) to ensure safety from a satellite fragment approaching its flight path. This follows a similar maneuver performed on November 19, which was necessary to avoid debris from a defunct defense meteorological satellite that disintegrated in 2015.
As low Earth orbit becomes increasingly crowded, with around 10,200 active satellites currently in operation—predominantly from SpaceX's Starlink constellation—the risk of collision with debris is growing. The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that there are approximately 40,500 objects larger than 4 inches (10 centimeters) in orbit, alongside millions of smaller fragments.
At an altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers), the ISS travels at an orbital velocity of about 17,500 mph (28,160 kph), making even tiny pieces of debris potentially hazardous. A December 2022 NASA report indicated that the ISS has had to perform evasive maneuvers 32 times since 1999, underscoring the ongoing challenges of space debris management.