An unguided satellite falls to Earth. Free Technical Library News

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Unguided satellite falls to Earth

22.10.2013

In early November, the next satellite will make an uncontrolled reentry into the atmosphere, its fragments can pose a danger to people and buildings.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), on October 21, the fuel on the GOCE satellite, designed to study gravity, ran out of fuel. In about two weeks, it will enter the atmosphere and burn up almost entirely, but some parts will probably survive and crash to the surface of the planet. The place of a possible fall is still unknown, since the satellite is uncontrollable and its trajectory cannot yet be predicted. The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee assures that the population of the threatened zone, ship crews and air traffic controllers will be alerted to a possible threat as soon as an accurate GOCE trajectory can be calculated.

GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) has a length of 5 m and a diameter of more than 1 m, at the start it weighed 1052 kg, and now it is 41 kg lighter - the weight of fuel, xenon, for an ion engine. The ESA believes that some parts of the satellite will most likely not burn up in the atmosphere and will be able to reach the surface of our planet. Experts believe that GOCE is most likely to fall into the ocean, because 70% of the Earth is covered with water, but the risk of falling debris on densely populated regions cannot be ruled out.

The GOCE mission, launched in March 2009, was supposed to last only 2 years, but thanks to moderate solar activity, fuel was saved and the mission was extended. GOCE's initial estimated orbital altitude was 255 km. After completing the main tasks of the mission in mid-2012, the GOCE orbit was lowered to 224 kilometers in order to make more detailed measurements. The change of orbit and operation at a lower altitude led to the rapid consumption of fuel, as a result, the tanks were empty, and now the satellite is uncontrollable.

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