5,000-Pound Satellite Successfully 'Deorbited' Wednesday (cnn.com) 20
On Wednesday afternoon "a European Space Agency satellite reentered Earth's atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean..." reports CNN, "and there have been no reports of damage, according to the agency."
The agency's Space Debris Office, along with an international surveillance network, monitored and tracked the Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite throughout February to make predictions about the reentry, which occurred at 12:17 p.m. ET Wednesday. The ESA provided continuous live updates on its website. At around 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth's surface, the satellite broke apart due to atmospheric drag, and the majority of the fragments were expected to burn up in the atmosphere.
The agency said it was possible that some fragments could reach the planet's surface, but the pieces didn't contain any harmful substances and likely fell into the ocean... The ERS-2 satellite had an estimated mass of 5,057 pounds (2,294 kilograms) after depleting its fuel, according to the agency. "Uncontrolled Atmospheric reentry has long been a common method for disposing of space objects at the end of their mission," said Tim Flohrer, head of the agency's Space Debris Office, in a statement. "We see objects similar in size or larger to ERS-2 reentering the atmosphere multiple times each year."
The Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite first launched on April 21, 1995, and it was the most sophisticated satellite of its kind at the time to be developed and launched by Europe... In 2011, the agency decided to end the satellite's operations and deorbit it, rather than adding to the swirl of space junk orbiting the planet. The satellite executed 66 deorbiting maneuvers in July and August of 2011 before the mission officially concluded later that year on September 11. The maneuvers burned through the rest of the satellite's fuel and decreased its altitude, setting ERS-2's orbit on a trajectory to slowly spiral closer to Earth and reenter the atmosphere within 15 years.
The chances of an individual 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 being killed in an accident at home, according to the agency.
The agency said it was possible that some fragments could reach the planet's surface, but the pieces didn't contain any harmful substances and likely fell into the ocean... The ERS-2 satellite had an estimated mass of 5,057 pounds (2,294 kilograms) after depleting its fuel, according to the agency. "Uncontrolled Atmospheric reentry has long been a common method for disposing of space objects at the end of their mission," said Tim Flohrer, head of the agency's Space Debris Office, in a statement. "We see objects similar in size or larger to ERS-2 reentering the atmosphere multiple times each year."
The Earth-observing ERS-2 satellite first launched on April 21, 1995, and it was the most sophisticated satellite of its kind at the time to be developed and launched by Europe... In 2011, the agency decided to end the satellite's operations and deorbit it, rather than adding to the swirl of space junk orbiting the planet. The satellite executed 66 deorbiting maneuvers in July and August of 2011 before the mission officially concluded later that year on September 11. The maneuvers burned through the rest of the satellite's fuel and decreased its altitude, setting ERS-2's orbit on a trajectory to slowly spiral closer to Earth and reenter the atmosphere within 15 years.
The chances of an individual 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 being killed in an accident at home, according to the agency.
Nail biter (Score:2)
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cheap rubbish (Score:2)
You get what you pay for. At such a ludicrously low price for a satellite, it is hardly surprising that it fell out of the sky.
Eurpean pounds? (Score:3)
European pound = 500g (Score:4, Informative)
I know you're trying to crack a joke, but in Europe (e.g. Netherlands) it's fairly common to talk about "pounds", particularly when measuring ingredients for cooking. These "pounds" ("pond" in Dutch) are exactly 500g, or half a kilo.
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I know you're trying to crack a joke, but in Europe (e.g. Netherlands) it's fairly common to talk about "pounds", particularly when measuring ingredients for cooking. These "pounds" ("pond" in Dutch) are exactly 500g, or half a kilo.
I have about 15 Dutch language cookbooks including one full of just Dutch recipes and I call bullshit. None of them list anything in pounds, I've never seen any cooking ingredients sold in pounds, and I've never heard anyone mention pounds unless reading a recipe from an American website, and even they they roughly divide by two for good measure.
No in Europe only the UK uses pounds, literally no one else, even when cooking.
Now if you want to talk about WTF people would use decigrams or centilitres like the
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All my Dutch relatives from my parents' generation use the "pond" (500g) and "ons" (100g) when speaking. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've heard younger Dutch people using them as much. How old are the recipe books? I guess the "pond" and "ons" could have fallen out of use.
"Non-sequitur!" (Score:2)
and there have been no reports of damage, according to the agency.
I doubt the satellite fared well.
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And so begins a new kind of lottery... (Score:2)
The sub-orbital "Who'll get hit".
The chances are 1 in a billion, they say - will you be the "lucky" winner to have space debree hit you during your sunday morning walk?
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Not a new lottery: being hit by asteroids has been a thing since before the dinosaurs, and getting hit by artificial satellites has been a thing since the space race.
More like "Disintegrate" than "Burn Up" (Score:3)
Lots of recent literature about satellites depositing themselves in the upper atmosphere as atomic-to-extremely-small particles that don't seem to leave the upper atmosphere. "Burn Up" implies a chemical reaction like a campfire or relatively-high-oxygen burning like at ground level.
What is that aluminum, tellurium, gallium, silicon, etc doing up there once it's there, anyway?
Until we start figuring that out (...from the people who want to keep putting those pollutants in the exosphere...) expect to keep hearing about "burning up".
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Lots of recent literature about satellites depositing themselves in the upper atmosphere as atomic-to-extremely-small particles that don't seem to leave the upper atmosphere. "Burn Up" implies a chemical reaction like a campfire or relatively-high-oxygen burning like at ground level.
Well, since the atmosphere is 20% oxygen, when you heat something to incandescence it probably does burn. Structure of most satellites is aluminum, so it will oxidize to Al2O3.
What is that aluminum, tellurium, gallium, silicon, etc doing up there once it's there, anyway?
Condensing and settling down, that's what it's doing.
5,200 tons of meteoritic dust enters the atmosphere per year, so this is small compared to the natural input. Main difference is it was one large chunk instead of a billion small pieces.
scare quotes (Score:3)
5,000-Pound Satellite Successfully 'Deorbited' Wednesday
Why the scare quotes?
What message are we supposed to infer from this?
That is is still in orbit, but the deep-state doesn't want us to know?
That it is a cover-up for a first strike attack by the Russians? Or is it a cover-up of our first strike attack on Russia?
Inquiring minds want to know...
What are the odds? (Score:2)
The chances of an individual 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 being killed in an accident at home, according to the agency.
So, the odds aren't zero? How dare they allow us to be subject to their risks! Imagine totaling up all the risks of life, I might just end up dead someday for some reason!
I feel ripped off (Score:2)