A 38-year-old NASA satellite that has been retired is poised to hit the ground.
The likelihood of wreckage landing on someone, is ‘extremely minimal.’ According to NASA, the majority of the 2,450 kilogramme (5,400 pounds) satellite will burn up upon reentry. However, certain components should survive.
The space agency informed that, there is a 1-in-9,400 chance of being hurt by falling debris. The Defence Department predicts that the science satellite will fall down on Sunday night, give or take 17 hours.
The Aerospace Corporation, based in California, is aiming, however, for Monday morning, give or take 13 hours, along a trajectory travelling over Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the westernmost regions of North and South America.
In 1984, the space shuttle Challenger launched the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, or ERBS. The satellite continued to measure ozone and other atmospheric variables despite having a two-year expected working life. It was retired in 2005. The satellite observed how the planet’s surface radiated and absorbed solar radiation.
Challenger gave the satellite a ceremonial sendoff. Sally Ride, the nation’s first woman in space, used the shuttle’s robot arm to launch the satellite into orbit. Kathryn Sullivan, a US woman, performed the country’s first spacewalk on the same flight. Two female astronauts flew into space together for the first time in history.
Ride, who passed away in 2012, made it his second and last trip into space.
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