The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) is an important source of information on the small particle space debris environment. (image: Wikipedia)
The debris is one of thousands of pieces of debris produced by the 2009 collision between an inactive Russian communications satellite and an active U.S. commercial communications satellite.
The South Korean satellite could come as close as 23 meters to the debris above the Greenland Sea around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to the South Korean officials handling the issue.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning will minimize the risk of collision by controlling satellite attitude during the time frame of a possible collision, according to the officials.
The South Korean satellite, launched in November 2013, is designed to orbit the earth once every 97 minutes at an altitude of 600 kilometers for forecasting any geological activity, such as earthquakes.
The satellite has an operational lifespan of two years.
