---
title: "Two Satellites May Collide Today, Exploding Catastrophically"
description: "There's a decent chance that two satellites will collide this evening, potentially releasing a cloud of hazardous debris into orbit."
date: "2020-01-29"
modified: "2020-01-30"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/satellites-collide-exploding-catastrophically"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "satellites"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Two Satellites May Collide Today, Exploding Catastrophically

![There's a decent chance that two satellites will collide this evening, potentially releasing a cloud of hazardous debris into orbit.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/astronomers-worried-two-satelites-will-collide-explode.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

*Update 1/30/2020: The two satellites mentioned in this story passed by each other [without colliding](<https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/01/29/satellites-on-collision-course-above-pittsburgh-do-not-hit/>).*

## Steel City

There's a decent chance that two satellites will crash into each other as they orbit the Earth today.

The two satellites, both already inactive, have a one-in-1,000 chance of colliding, *[CNN ](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/us/dead-satellites-collide-us-scn-trnd/index.html>)*[reports](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/us/dead-satellites-collide-us-scn-trnd/index.html>), which is a much higher chance than space agencies consider safe. If a collision is going to happen, it will occur right around 6:40 PM EST when the paths of the satellites converge — right over Pittsburgh, PA.

## Chain Reaction

On its own, the destruction of two decades-old satellites that have long since stopped being useful isn't a huge deal. But if they do crash, they'll fill an [already-crowded sky](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-deploys-60-starlink-satellites>) with hazardous debris.

"The worry is that we'll start seeing a chain reaction where all the satellites kill each other with shrapnel and space becomes unusable," astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told *CNN*.

## Risky Maneuver

The two satellites are expected to pass anywhere within 13 to 87 meters of each other — extremely close on an astronomical scale. The odds of a collision are increased by the fact that the satellites are larger than average, per *CNN*.

"It isn't as unlikely as it usually is," McDowell told *CNN*. "We start getting worried when it's one in 10,000, so one in 1,000 is unusual and it might actually be a lot worse than that."

**READ MORE:** [Two dead satellites might collide above the US today](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/us/dead-satellites-collide-us-scn-trnd/index.html>) \[*CNN*\]

**More on collisions:** *[SpaceX Wouldn’t Move Its Satellite to Avoid a Collision, Says ESA](<https://futurism.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-collision>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)