CERISE microsatellite recovery from first detected collision in low Earth orbit

The first ever collision between two catalogued space objects was detected in low Earth orbit in July 1996. After one year of perfect operation in space, controllers at the Space Mission Control Groundstation, Surrey Space Centre, UK observed a sudden change to the attitude dynamics of the CERISE microsatellite as it tumbled rapidly end-over-end in its 700 km polar Earth orbit. After initial investigations, a collision with a piece of space debris was suspected. The paper describes the analysis of the collision dynamics and the subsequent re-programming of the on-board computers with novel magnetic control algorithms to re-stabilise the otherwise undamaged microsatellite and regain almost full operational mission capability.