Debris found near Progress show that it is actively disintegrating, falling to Earth - scientist
MOSCOW. April 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The separation of debris from the re-supply spacecraft indicates that it is most likely already falling down to Earth, Yury Karash, academician with the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics, told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"In order for it to turn into a conglomerate composed of forty or more pieces, a very serious, purely physical impact needs to be exerted on it, from the inside or from the outside. If it was inside, it means it exploded. And if it is outside, it means that it has entered solid layers of the atmosphere and is disintegrating due to the thermal and dynamic impact on it in the process of rubbing against the air," the expert said.
The expert said that Progress can exist in this condition for a very sort time. "It is now falling to Earth. It most likely just exploded," Karash said.
The space center of the U.S. Vandenberg Air Force Base in California earlier registered 44 debris in orbit near the re-supply spacecraft Progress M-27M and the third stage of the launch vehicle Soyuz-2.1a.
At the same time, the space center at the Vandenberg base currently cannot confirm that the debris belong to the Progress and the third stage of the launch vehicle.
