In a space-age first, two satellites have collided in orbit. Early on Wednesday morning, Sydney time, a Russian communications satellite and an American Iridium mobile phone spacecraft smashed into each other, 790 kilometres above Siberia.

The cosmic bingle left both write-offs. US Air Force Brigadier General Michael Carey, of US Strategic Command, said at least 600 pieces of wreckage had been observed circling the world.

“We knew this was going to happen eventually,” said Mark Matney, of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office.

With 4,800 members, Ung Pirat (Young Pirates) claims to be Sweden’s third largest youth organisation.

“It is truly gratifying and shows what we are achieving with our politics,” said Ung Pirat chairperson Stefan Flod in a press release.

“It is surprising. Ung Pirat works in principle to encourage something illegal. That they then receive money from a state institution is remarkable,” said Lars Gustafsson, CEO of record company sector organisation IFPI to Svd.se.

Ung Pirat has been awarded 1.3 million kronor ($159,000) by the National Board for Youth Affairs (Ungdomstyrelsen), a government agency. The sum has been calculated based on an official member estimation of 1,284 members.

The organization claims in a press release that its membership has almost doubled in a year and is thus confident of receiving further state support next year.

“We have our finger on the pulse of the issues important to young people today. Our political issues touch us deeply, because they concern our lives,” Flod said.

The group share the Pirate Party’s opposition to a new law based on the European Union’s Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), that would make it easier to track people who illegally share copyrighted material on the Internet.