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Fengyun-1C

Chinese weather satellite

Quick Summary

The Fengyun-1C was a Chinese weather satellite that met a catastrophic end. On January 11, 2007, the Chinese military destroyed it in a test of an anti-satellite system. This event created over 3,000 fragments, which constituted more than 20 percent of all space debris at the time. These fragments spread into an Earth-encircling cloud that will persist for decades. The destruction of Fengyun-1C is considered the worst space-debris event.12

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