Dead, 5,000-pound satellite is falling to Earth today. Will any debris survive the fiery reentry?

[Elderberry]

Space.com by Leonard David 2/21/2024

Update for Feb. 21: This post was updated on Feb. 21 to indicate the latest reentry time predictions from ESA.

A European Space Agency spacecraft is making an uncontrolled nosedive into Earth's atmosphere – with elements of the 2.3-ton spent satellite likely to survive the plunge into purgatory.

The exact time and place above Earth that the radar-scanning ESA European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) augers in is unknown, but a new prediction of the spacecraft's demise has been issued.

Using the most recent data, ESA's Space Debris Office predicted as of 6:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT) on Wednesday (Feb. 21) that the reentry of ESA's ERS-2 satellite will take place at 12:05 p.m. EST (1541 GMT) on Wednesday (Feb. 21).

The uncertainty in this prediction is now just (+/- 1.44 hours), according to an ESA statement.

"This uncertainty is due primarily to the influence of unpredictable solar activity, which affects the density of Earth's atmosphere and therefore the drag experienced by the satellite," ESA adds.

Leftovers

As for the ERS-2 re-entry itself, there’s likely to be post-re-entry spacecraft leftovers.

"It is likely that some parts survive the re-entry, as on average between 10 and 20 percent of the mass for large objects does," says Simona-Elena Nichiteanu, a media relations officer in the communication department at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC). ESOC serves as the main mission control center for ESA in Darmstadt, Germany.

Component survival

As for the ERS-2 component survival to Earth’s surface, Nichiteanu told Space.com that the biggest and heaviest fragments that might survive reentry into the atmosphere are the 4 tanks (heaviest), the 3 internal panels supporting instruments (largest cross section) and the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) antenna structure (largest fragment assuming it does not fragment at all).

A vast majority of ERS-2 will "burn up" in the atmosphere, ESA experts explain. Furthermore, given that the Earth is largely ocean water-rich, chances are for splash down of any remaining spacecraft components.

More: https://www.space.com/satellite-ers-2-esa-debris-prediction?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=space.com

[Hoodat]

5,000-pound European satellite burns up over Pacific Ocean after 30 years in orbit

Ben Turner  |  5 hours ago

Europe's ERS-2 climate satellite has burnt up over the Pacific Ocean in an uncontrolled reentry after 30 years in orbit. No damage from falling debris has been reported.

A defunct, 5,050-pound (2,290 kilograms) satellite has tumbled uncontrollably back to Earth after spending three decades in space.

After slowly falling to Earth for more than 12 years, the European Space Agency's (ESA) ERS-2 satellite reentered Earth's atmosphere at 12:17 p.m. ET (5:17 p.m. GMT) on Wednesday, Feb. 21, burning up over a remote patch of the North Pacific Ocean roughly halfway between Alaska and Hawaii, according to ESA. No damage to property has been reported, and it is unclear if any debris survived the fiery plunge through the atmosphere.  .  .  .

https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/5000-pound-european-satellite-burns-up-over-pacific-ocean-after-30-years-in-orbit