The Earth observation satellite ERS-2, which was decommissioned in July 2011, will fall to Earth uncontrollably on Wednesday. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), most of the two-ton satellite will burn up in the atmosphere.
However, a small amount of debris will fall to Earth, although it is unclear where it will actually land. According to the European Space Operations Center (ESOC), this depends on the angle of entry of the satellite into the atmosphere and the strength of the solar wind. Because about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, it is hoped that the remains will fall into the water.
Exactly when the crash will occur on Wednesday will depend on atmospheric conditions and solar activity, ESOC said. According to predictions, the entry into Earth’s atmosphere will occur on Wednesday, around 1:10 PM CET. However, according to the Space Flight Control Center, there is still an uncertainty of several hours.
The satellite was moved to a lower orbit in 2011
When the ERS-2 satellite was decommissioned at the end of its mission in July 2011, ESA sent it to a lower orbit where the risk of collisions with other satellites or space debris is lower. Using braking maneuvers, ERS-2 was brought from its original orbit at an altitude of 785 kilometers to an orbit at an altitude of about 570 kilometers, where the chance of colliding with satellites or space debris is lower.
In the final phase of the “deorbiting”, the so-called passivation, the remaining fuel was removed from the tanks and the satellite batteries and transmitters were switched off during a number of longer maneuvers. Launched in 1995, the satellite has been continuously monitored since then to predict the time of its return and its return corridor as accurately as possible.
Only recently was ERS-2 observed to tumble uncontrollably. Cameras on board a satellite from the Australian company HEO, commissioned by the British Space Agency, took images of the ESA satellite, which was then at an altitude of about 300 kilometers (see image above).
Billions of kilometers traveled
ERS-2 traveled billions of miles during its 16-year mission, providing data for thousands of scientists and projects. It was equipped with the very first European high-precision measuring instrument for determining the ozone concentration in the stratosphere, thus contributing to data continuity in the observation of the annual depletion of the ozone layer above Antarctica.
Source: Krone
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