The event took place on January 11, and was reported to the Russians only on February 4 and to the public in early March
Analytic Graphics (AGI) reports that the Center for Space Innovation and Standards (CSSI) announced that on January 22, 2013, a fragment from the Chinese FENGYUN 1C satellite hit the Russian BLITS satellite.
The FENGYUN 1C satellite is the meteorological satellite that China destroyed to test an anti-satellite missile on January 11, 2007. As far as is known, the collision changed the trajectory of the Russian satellite as well as its rotational speed and stability. The AGI illustration above depicts the event.
The collision was not reported until February 4, when engineers from the Institute of Precision Engineering Instrumentation in Moscow (IPIE) reported to CSSI a significant change in the orbit of the BLIT satellite. The satellite is precisely tracked by the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS).
The IPIE detected a sudden drop of 120 meters in the semi-major axis of its rotation and a change in its rotational speed. Teams investigating the event had to go back to examine the satellite data and determine that a piece of space debris could have been large enough to cause a change in the orbit of the BLITS satellite. They discovered a convergence between fragments of the Chinese satellite and the BLITS satellite. Although the predicted distance was not there to indicate a collision. The fact that the approach occurred within 10 seconds of the predicted change in orbit means that it is highly probable that it is a fragment of the Chinese satellite.
The video shows the distribution of space debris created by the Chinese anti-satellite weapon test in January 2007, over a year
