2024-02-22 10:49:55
The remains of the ERS-2 remote sensing satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) already lie at the bottom of the North Pacific Ocean, between Alaska and Hawaii, as the organization had programmed in the hours before 6:17 p.m. Wednesday, when it re-entered the atmosphere, executed to end its cycle of existence.
Through various updates, the agency had been publishing images of the vehicle taken from other satellites on January 14, January 28, January 29 and February 3, when it was still at an altitude of more than 300 kilometers. . As planned, when it descended below 80 kilometers its disintegration would begin.
Re-entry predictions for the satellite were centered on February 21 at 00:19 UTC, with a range of +/- 25 hours. The mass of ERS-2 at launch (including fuel) was 2,516 kilograms. Finally, ESA confirmed atmospheric re-entry at 17:17 UTC (18:17 CET) +/- 1 minute.
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Launched on an Ariane-4 rocket from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on April 21, 1995, ERS-2 was one of ESA’s first Earth observation satellites. In its operational cycle, it monitored land masses, oceans, rivers, vegetation and the polar regions of the Earth using visible and ultraviolet light sensors. ERS-2 ceased service in September 2011.
For context, recent high-profile reentries include the UARS satellite (6.5 tons, in 2011) and the massive Long March-5B booster that launched the core module of China’s Tiangong Space Station in late 2022 (with weighing 23 tons).
ESA approved its first space debris mitigation policy in 2008, 13 years following the launch of ERS-2. In 2011, the agency decided to passively re-enter the satellite and began a series of 66 deorbiting maneuvers to reduce its orbit from 785 kilometers to 573 kilometers.
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