From Space News:
20-year-old Military Weather Satellite Apparently Exploded in Orbit
A 20-year-old military weather satellite apparently exploded in orbit Feb. 3 following what the U.S. Air Force described as a sudden temperature spike.
The “catastrophic event” produced 43 pieces of space debris, according to Air Force Space Command, which disclosed the loss of the satellite Feb. 27 in response to questions from SpaceNews.
More at the site - the satellite had reached its end of life and was not really contributing any usable data.
What better target for someone to say: Look what we can do and aren't you glad we hit an old military satellite instead of a shiny new one...
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