( CNN ) -- A piece of space debris left over from a 2007 Chinese missile test collided with a Russian satellite earlier this year , rendering the satellite unusable , a researcher said Saturday . The collision appears to have happened January 22 . That 's when it 's thought a piece of the Feng Yun 1C weather satellite , which was destroyed in the 2007 missile test , accidentally hit the Russian satellite , said T.S . Kelso , a senior research astrodynamicist at the Center for Space Standards & Innovation . The collision changed the orientation and orbit of the Russian satellite , which was being used in scientific experiments , Kelso said . It may have also damaged it . `` There has been a piece of debris catalogued by U.S. Strategic Command as a result of that collision , '' Kelso said . `` That would suggest that at least a part of the satellite broke off because of the collision . '' It was February 4 when two scientists with the Institute for Precision Instrument Engineering in Moscow noticed a change in the orbit of the satellite , known as BLITS , Kelso said . The scientists estimated the change happened January 22 . They contacted Kelso because CSSI operates a service that looks for close satellite approaches , he said . CSSI looked for objects that may have had a nearby approach with the BLITS satellite around the time of the collision . The Chinese debris was the only object they found . Although the predicted distance between the debris and the satellite seemed to preclude a collision , the fact that the close approach happened within 10 seconds of the change in orbit made the Feng Yun 1C debris the likely culprit , Kelso wrote in a blog post . CSSI is now working with the Russian scientists to find out more about the collision . BLITS is a small glass sphere that reflected laser beams for research . Because of the collision , the satellite now faces the wrong way and ca n't be used , Kelso said . The collision also sped up the satellite 's spin period from 5.6 seconds to 2.1 seconds , Kelso said . China launched the Feng Yun 1C polar orbit weather satellite in 1999 . It was destroyed in 2007 when China targeted it for a test of a ground-based , medium-range ballistic missile . U.S. tracking sensors determined the missile collision created hundreds of pieces of space debris , according to a U.S. official at the time . The test prompted formal protests from the United States and several U.S. allies including Canada and Australia . The problem of collisions involving space debris is not a new one . `` Collisions happen all the time , everywhere . Big collisions -- now those are the rare ones , '' said space debris expert William Schonberg , chairman of the Civil , Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department at the Missouri University of Science and Technology . The last major space debris collision was in 2009 between Iridium 33 , an operational U.S. communications satellite , and Cosmos 2251 , a decommissioned Russian satellite , Kelso said . Scientists know of only a handful of such collisions , but that 's only because they happened with objects that were being monitored . Kelso and Schonberg say it 's likely there are other `` junk to junk '' collisions involving unmonitored objects that no one knows about . In the case of the Russian satellite in January , `` it would have been very difficult to tell there had been a collision if it had n't been for the fact that somebody was operating the satellite and noticed a collision , '' said Kelso . Experts and leading government agencies have been working on the space junk problem for decades , but it 's a tricky one to solve , Schonberg told CNN . Trying to catch or deflect debris runs the risk of making the problem worse , he said . The debris could shatter into more pieces or change orbit and be on a collision course with something else . Some soft-impact lasers can nudge objects into a calculated orbit toward Earth so they will be pulled down and burn up in the atmosphere , Schonberg said . But scientists must make sure that happens over an ocean to minimize danger to people . `` Our technology has not caught up with our desire to clean up our mess '' in space , Schonberg said . `` If nothing else , '' said Kelso , this collision `` was a bit of a reminder that it will likely happen again , and maybe we should get back to work trying to figure out what to do about it . '' More space and science news on CNN.com 's Light Years blog . Rare naked-eye comet now visible . 501 days in space with your spouse : Could you do it ?
The collision has rendered the Russian satellite , used to reflect laser beams , unusable . The debris is left over from a 2007 Chinese missile launch on their own weather satellite . The collision happened January 22 but was only discovered last month . The incident highlights the problem of collisions involving space debris .