France Maneuvers Intel Satellite To Avoid Dead Weather Spacecraft

One of four French electronic-intelligence satellites flying in formation in low Earth orbit was forced to perform a collision-avoidance maneuver after U.S. and French space-tracking radars determined that it was on a collision course with a large piece of orbital debris, the French air force said. The satellite that had to be moved is one of four identical 120-kilogram Elisa demonstrator satellites launched into a 694-kilometer low Earth orbit in December 2011. With both French naval and German ground-based precision space-surveillance radars out of service for several months for maintenance, the French military deployed two of its own, less-precise ground radars, located in Sommepy in northeast France and Solenzara on the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean, to track what the French air force said was a dead satellite. More

(Source: Space News - Apr 24)