Russian atomic satellite breaks up in orbit

An ageing Soviet-built nuclear powered satellite is breaking up in orbit, Russia revealed today.

But the military insisted that Cosmos-1818 did not pose any threat to the planet or the international space station.

The decommissioned satellite partially broke up in July.

Space Forces chief of staff General Alexander Yakushin said that the satellite’s fragments remained on a high orbit far above that of the international space station.

He added that the fragments did not pose any threat of radioactive contamination on Earth.

The Cosmos-1818 was launched into orbit in 1987 on a mission to track ships using a powerful radar scanning the ocean surface.