Dead European satellite weighing 2,000 kg will crash back to Earth this month – and experts still don’t know where it will land

It has been floating above our planet for almost 30 years.

But a satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) will finally crash back into Earth this month.

Launched from French Guiana in 1995, ERS-2 weighs just over 2,000kg – about the same as an adult rhino.

ESA experts say the craft will reenter the planet’s atmosphere in mid-February, although it is still unknown when and where exactly it will land.

The agency expects parts of the machine are ‘likely to fall into the ocean’ – and insists the risk of being injured by space debris is less than 1 in 100 billion.

“The European Remote Sensing 2 (ERS-2) satellite will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and begin burning up in mid-February 2024,” the agency said in a statement.

‘It is impossible to predict exactly when and where the satellite will start to burn up.

‘The period in which return is possible will continue to shrink until the moment of return.’

ESA said it is monitoring the satellite “very closely” along with international partners and will provide regular updates in the days leading up to its return.

The ERS-2 satellite was launched in April 1995 from ESA’s Guyana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana, to study Earth’s land surfaces, oceans and polar caps.

After fifteen years, the spacecraft was still functioning when ESA declared the mission complete in 2011.

After the deorbitation maneuvers used up the satellite’s remaining fuel, ground control experts began lowering the altitude from about 785 km to 573 km.

The experts wanted to minimize the risk of collisions with other satellites or increase the cloud of ‘space junk’ currently orbiting our planet.

Since then, ERS-2 has been in a period of ‘orbital decay’, meaning it is gradually getting closer and closer to Earth as it orbits the planet.

The ERS-2 satellite was launched in April 1995 from ESA’s Guyana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana (pictured)

ERS-2 will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up once its altitude decreases to about 50 miles (80 km) – about a fifth of the distance of the International Space Station.

At this altitude it will break into fragments, the vast majority of which will burn up in the atmosphere.

However, some fragments could reach the Earth’s surface, where they will “most likely fall into the ocean,” according to ESA.

“None of these fragments will contain toxic or radioactive materials,” the agency said.

While ESA cannot guarantee that there is no chance of ERS-2 hitting anyone, ESA has indicated that the annual risk of even one human being injured by space debris is less than one in 100 billion.

That is about 1.5 million times lower than the risk of dying at home in an accident and 65,000 times lower than the risk of being struck by lightning.

Worryingly, ESA describes the event as a ‘natural’ reentry, as ground crews cannot control the event during descent.

“ERS-2 consumed the last of its fuel in 2011 to minimize the risk of a catastrophic explosion that could have created a large amount of space debris,” the agency said.

‘The batteries were dead and the communications antenna and electronics on board were disabled.

“There is no longer a way to actively control the movement of the satellite from the ground during its descent.”

ERS-2 was launched in 1995 as a follow-up to its sister satellite, ERS-1, which had been launched four years earlier.

Both satellites were equipped with the latest high-tech instruments, including a radar altimeter (which sends pulses of radio waves to the ground) and powerful sensors to measure ocean surface temperatures and offshore winds.

ERS-2 had an additional sensor to measure the ozone content of our planet’s atmosphere, which is important for blocking radiation from the sun.

ERS-1 is no longer operational due to a malfunction in 2000, but its exact location is unknown.

WHAT IS SPACE JUNK? MORE THAN 170 MILLION DEAD SATELLITES, SPENT MISSILES AND PAINT FLAKES ARE A ‘THREAT’ TO THE SPACE INDUSTRY

There are an estimated 170 million pieces of so-called “space junk” — left behind from missions that can be as large as used rocket stages or as small as paint flakes — in orbit, along with about $700 billion in space infrastructure. .

But only 27,000 are tracked, and because the fragments can reach speeds of over 27,000 kilometers per hour, even small pieces can seriously damage or destroy satellites.

However, traditional gripping methods don’t work in space because suction cups don’t function in a vacuum and temperatures are too cold for substances like tape and glue.

Magnet-based grabs are useless because most of the debris in orbit around Earth is not magnetic.

Currently orbiting our planet are approximately 500,000 man-made debris (artist’s impression), consisting of disused satellites, pieces of spacecraft and spent rockets.

Most proposed solutions, including debris harpoons, require or cause a forceful interaction with the debris, which can push these objects in unintended, unpredictable directions.

Scientists point to two events that have seriously exacerbated the space debris problem.

The first occurred in February 2009, when an Iridium telecom satellite and Kosmos-2251, a Russian military satellite, accidentally collided.

The second was in January 2007, when China tested an anti-satellite weapon on an old Fengyun weather satellite.

Experts also pointed to two sites that have become worryingly messy.

One of these is low Earth orbit, which is used by navigation satellites, the ISS, China’s manned missions and the Hubble telescope, among others.

The other is in geostationary orbit and is used by communications, weather and surveillance satellites that must maintain a fixed position relative to Earth.