Dramatic images show a large satellite tumbling toward Earth | Tech Reader

Date:

Share:


An illustration of ESA’s ERS-2 satellite. ESA

The European Space Agency (ESA) has shared remarkable images showing one of its satellites in what it describes as a “tumbling descent.”

ESA’s European Remote Sensing 2 satellite (ERS-2) is expected to burn up during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday.

The images (below) were captured around three weeks ago by Australian commercial imaging company HEO when the satellite was at an altitude of around 150 miles (300 kilometers).

ERS-2 spotted! 📸🛰️

The ESA satellite is on a tumbling descent that will lead to its atmospheric reentry and break up this week.

These images of ERS-2 were captured by @heospace for @spacegovuk using cameras on board other satellites.#ERS2reentry pic.twitter.com/GTuubP6apJ

— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) February 19, 2024

ERS-2 has since descended to an altitude of around 125 miles (200 km) and is falling by more than 6.2 miles (10 km) per day, with its speed rapidly increasing.

ESA said that when the 5,000-pound satellite descends to about 50 miles (80 km), it will start to break into pieces, most of which will burn up before they reach the ground. The space agency adds that the risk to people and property is extremely low, and said that “on average, an object of similar mass reenters Earth’s atmosphere every week or two.”

The satellite’s reentry is described by ESA as “natural” as the agency no longer has any control over it. “The only force causing ERS-2’s orbit to decay is atmospheric drag, which is influenced by unpredictable solar activity,” the agency said.

On Monday, ESA said it expects the satellite to meet a fiery end on Wednesday at 15:41 UTC (10:41 ET), though it could happen up to 11 hours either side of this time. The reentry location is also hard to predict at the present time, though upcoming forecasts shared on ESA’s website will become increasingly accurate.

A diagram showing the history of ESA's ERS-2 satellite.
ESA

ERS-2 launched from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, in 1995, and orbited Earth at an average altitude for 488 miles (785 km). The mission gathered valuable data on Earth’s land surfaces, oceans, and polar caps, while also capturing imagery of natural disasters such as flooding and earthquakes.

The mission ended in 2011 when ESA decided to deorbit the satellite to reduce the chances of it colliding with other satellites or space debris, thereby causing even more hazardous space junk.

Editors’ Recommendations








Source link

━ more like this

Farage is right: The UK must launch a sovereign Bitcoin reserve fund – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Nigel Farage, the Reform Party leader, is, this time, absolutely right: the UK urgently needs a sovereign Bitcoin reserve fund....

Apple’s M3 iPad Air drops to a record-low price

A couple months have passed since Apple released the iPad Air (M3) and our position remains the same: It's the best iPad on...

Chancellor’s tax raid has put more than ‘200,000 jobs at risk’ – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

New research warns that the Chancellor’s inheritance tax raid has put more than 200,000 jobs at risk. CBI Economics...

Former US official warns the US government is preparing for a ‘near extinction event’ – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

A former US official who served under George H.W Bush presidency has said that the government is preparing for a...

Starmer to get UK at ‘war fighting readiness’ warning all ‘citizens has a role to play’ – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Sir Keir Starmer is preparing for war as he has vowed to make Britain “battle ready” as he announced a...
spot_img