An unmanned Russian spacecraft on a failed resupply run to the International Space Station is heading back toward Earth faster than original predictions, with a fiery demise in the atmosphere expected early today, US Air Force tracking data show.
The Russian Progress capsule, loaded with more than 3 tonnes of food, fuel and supplies, blasted off aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday last week.
Flight controllers lost contact with the freighter shortly after it reached orbit, and tracking radars later showed the capsule was tumbling. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
The US Air Force’s Joint Space Operations Center, which tracks satellites and junk orbiting Earth, found 44 pieces of debris near the Progress and its discarded upper-stage booster, a possible indication that an explosion or other problem occurred just before or during spacecraft separation.
The Russian space agency Roscosmos declined to comment.
Unable to raise its altitude, the Progress capsule is being pulled back toward Earth.
The US Air Force’s Space-Track.org Web site, operated by a contractor, shows the capsule due to plunge back into Earth’s atmosphere about 5am today.
The capsule and cargo are expected to burn up in the atmosphere, with any surviving debris likely to impact in the ocean.
“Only a few small pieces of structural elements could reach the planet’s surface,” Roscosmos said in a statement.
The exact location where Progress will re-enter the atmosphere is not yet known.
Dozens of spacecraft larger than Progress have made safe though uncontrolled returns into Earth’s atmosphere, including the US’ 169,000kg Skylab space station in 1979 and Russia’s 13,500kg failed Phobos-Grunt Mars probe in 2012.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS