Russian Satellite Breaks Up As Space Debris Hit In Graveyard Orbit Above Earth
The Luch satellite (40258) is one of the two Russian military satellites that were decommissioned and sent into a graveyard orbit in October 2025.
Published : January 31, 2026 at 8:23 PM IST
Hyderabad: Luch (also known as Olymp) satellite with NORAD catalogue number 40258 seems to have disintegrated in a graveyard orbit high above the Earth, according to optical ground-based imagery. This was shared by s2A systems, a Swiss space situational awareness company, via their X handle. As per their post, the satellite witnessed a fragmentation event, showcased through a short time-lapse video. The post displays that the satellite breaks apart and begins to tumble, and it occurred on January 30, 2026, at 06:09 UTC (or 11:39 AM IST).
Jonathan McDowell, a well-known astrophysicist and satellite tracker, took on X and shared about the disintegration of the Luch satellite. His post noted the reason for its disintegration. McDowell highlighted that the satellite could have possibly witnessed a debris hit, as Luch’s internal energy sources would have been released when the satellite was retired.
Russia's decommissioned Olimp signals intelligence satellite, abandoned in the GEO graveyard orbit region in Oct 2025, has apparently disintegrated - possibly due to a debris hit since internal energy sources should have been vented when it was retired https://t.co/amG1p2TPS7
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) January 30, 2026
This incident highlights the growing concern about space debris (or space junk) and its risks to operational satellites and spacecraft. Even in graveyard orbits, satellites aren't entirely safe from collisions with debris.
To solve this, a group of scientists from Johns Hopkins University devised a way to track failing debris from space and provide authorities with more detailed information in near real-time. This would help the retrieval of the charred remains, which could sometimes be toxic for humans.
According to their study, they will use the existing networks of earthquake-detecting seismometers to track falling space debris. The study says that when space junk enters Earth’s atmosphere, it moves faster than the speed of sound, which creates a sonic boom, like a loud rumble, that makes the ground vibrate. These vibrations are detected by scientists using seismometers, which help to figure out the path of a piece of space junk.
With the help of this method, scientists reconstructed the path of debris from China's Shenzhou-15 spacecraft after the orbital module entered the Earth's atmosphere on April 2, 2024.
Luch Satellite
The Luch satellite is one of the two secretive military Russian satellites used to inspect, investigate, or eavesdrop on foreign satellites in the geostationary orbit (GEO). It was launched in 2014. The Luch satellite (40258) was decommissioned and sent into a graveyard orbit — a high-altitude region, specifically around 36,050 km above Earth — in October 2025.
