Chinese weather satellite breaks into pieces in space

The U.S. Space Force's 18th Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) has confirmed the breakup of China's Yunhai 1-02 satellite in Earth orbit. The breakup occurred on March 18 at 03:41 a.m. EDT, the military said in a post on Twitter. The 18th SPCS is tracking 21 pieces from the breakup - "analysis is ongoing."

Yunhai-1 is a series of Chinese meteorological satellites. The satellites are built by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and used for observation of atmospheric, marine and space environment, disaster prevention and mitigation, and scientific experiments. Yunhai 1-02 was launched in 2019.

The Yunhai 1-02 event follows the breakup of NOAA 17 that just occurred on March 10. NOAA 17 is a U.S. weather satellite.