Little by little, some of these devices have to pass away.
We have been sending satellites into our orbit for decades and there are many who already populate it, we have told you everything you need to know about the satellites orbiting the earth. A few days ago, in a statement published on the NASA websitewe learned how the satélite Earth Radiation Budget Satellitewith the initials ERBS, was retired by the space agency. Your destiny? End their days by falling to Earth.
From outer space to the Bering Sea
As you can read in the tweet that we leave you under these lines, it has been the North American space agency itself that has communicated that the satellite in question It entered the Earth’s atmosphere on January 8., which has also been confirmed by the United States Department of Defense itself. As planned, the remains from the satellite They have fallen somewhere in the Bering Seaoff the coast of Alaska, with no reported no kind of incident about. NASA had already assured that the possibility that the remains of the satellite could affect someone was 1 in 9,400, which has been confirmed by the government.
Update: @NASA’s retired Earth Radiation Budget Satellite reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Bering Sea at 11:04 p.m. EST on Sunday, Jan. 8, the @DeptofDefense confirmed. https://t.co/j4MYQYwT7Z
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) January 9, 2023
It was in the year 1984 when the astronauta Sally Ride put this satellite into orbit, which was traveling on board the aircraft Challenger. On his nearly 40-year space adventure, the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite has been dedicated to measure ozone of the earth’s atmosphere study how the Earth is able to absorb and radiate energy from the Sun. The weight of this structure was approximately 2,500 kilograms, and although NASA calculated that most of it would be incinerated as it passed through the atmosphere, it was inevitable that some debris would fall.
Until 2005, the date on which it was definitively withdrawn, this satellite has shown us a clear picture of how human activity have a direct effect on Earth’s radiation balance. After this satellite, other projects have arisen to continue studying parameters of the planet, as would be the case of the ERBE missionwhich has put into orbit a set of satellites capable of collect data on the ozone layercritical to the long-term survival of our cosmic home.