Simonetta Cheli, the ESA's director of Earth observation, said the satellite was a "real success story", having lasted beyond its estimated deployment of three years. While the remaining 20% will crash into the Atlantic and quickly sink, with no means to recover any of it. To our knowledge, this is the first time we have done an assisted re-entry like this", head of ESA's Space Debris Office Holger Krag said during a press briefing.Īt the press conference, they said they expect around 80% of Aeolus to be destroyed as the satellite falls through the atmosphere. You don't find really examples of this in the history of spaceflight. Since it ran out of fuel earlier this month, the spacecraft has been falling toward Earth with gathering speed. But now the 1,360kg satellite will burn up as it tears through the atmosphere before hopefully falling into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.Īeolus has been in orbit since 2018 and was the first spacecraft to measure our planet's winds from space. Planned and built before any regulations were put in place for "end-of-life" disposal, the Earth Explorer was set to naturally return through our atmosphere. The Aeolus weather-monitoring satellite was not destined for re-entry but it is running out of fuel and time. ![]() ![]() A British-built spacecraft is expected to plummet back to Earth today in an unprecedented return after completing a transformative space mission.
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