One of the most exciting is when a satellite or rocket explodes unexpectedly. We have watched the aftermath of some of these events. An early sighting of mine was of Cosmos 1823. In certain instances, the exploding object may not be destroyed. This is not an altogether unusual situation.
Some objects suffer minor explosions and their radar cross section is largely unaffected.
Optical observation bears this out. An explosion in space is not a desirable outcome since the new fragments become possible sources of impact to working satellites. Even a small fragment moving at orbital velocity is enough to seriously damage or destroy a large spacecraft. Many fragments created as a result of explosions tend to have small cross sectional area and may decay from orbit quickly. During periods of high solar activity when atmospheric decay is accelerated, a temporal 'cleansing' of small pieces of space debris will occur.