A European Space Agency (ESA) satellite will fall to Earth by this Wednesday (21/2), the aerospace center said. The object was launched in 1995 and is called European Remote Sensing 2 (ERS-2) by ESA. The equipment has been deactivated since 2011, after carrying out its Earth observation missions.
According to ESA, the satellite, which is about 80 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, will be destroyed and burned when it comes into contact with the atmosphere. The European Space Agency, however, says it is impossible to predict exactly where the ERS-2 debris will fall, but it will probably be in the ocean.
Updates on the equipment crash can be found on the ESA website . The object’s fall will depend on the influence of solar activity, which affects the density of the Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, to reinforce the ESA, it is impossible to state the exact moment of the satellite’s fall.
About 50 miles above Earth’s surface, the satellite is expected to break up and most of the fragments will burn up in the atmosphere. The agency said some fragments may reach the planet’s surface, but they will not contain harmful substances and will likely fall into the ocean.
The chances of a person being injured by space debris each year are less than 1 in 100 billion, about 1.5 million times lower than the risk of dying in a domestic accident, according to the agency.
ERS-2
ERS-2 was the most sophisticated satellite of its kind at the time to be developed and launched by Europe. In space, he collected valuable data about the planet’s ice caps, oceans, and land surfaces and observed disasters such as floods and earthquakes in remote areas. The data collected by ERS-2 is still used today, according to the agency.
Although it comes to fruition this week, the decision to remove ERS-2 from orbit was taken in 2011, as ESA technicians wanted to avoid space debris. The satellite performed 66 deorbit maneuvers in July and August 2011, before the mission was officially completed at the end of that year, on September 11.
These movements consumed the remainder of the satellite’s fuel and lowered its altitude, putting ERS-2’s orbit on a trajectory to return to Earth within 15 years.
