5 years ago... Satellites steer clear of meteor damage

18.11.98: Fears of cosmic catastrophe were avoided yesterday as satellite operators took direct action to avoid their celestial hardware being damaged in the Leonid meteor storm.

Space agencies took no chances as thousands of tiny particles of debris from the Tempel-Tuttle comet rained into the earth's atmosphere at 71km per second.

A spokeswoman for the UK Radiocommunications Agency said spacecraft had been advised to take "damage limitation measures", which involved "turning so the most vulnerable systems were not in direct line of fire, switching off high voltage systems and keeping ground controllers on alert".

18.11.03: "Turning so the most vulnerable systems were not in direct line of fire"? Sometimes we could be forgiven for wondering why we bother with using space for communications purposes, given all the obvious dangers of launching and running satellites, not to mention the cost.

The one thing we can be sure of is that meteors and other celestial bodies will continue to at times plague our most out of the world efforts. But whether we're talking about problems with low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite ventures or the latest plan to provide 'broadband in the sky', let's remember the heavens will play a part in meeting our future needs.