Back in April 1995, ERS-2, a highly sophisticated satellite of its era, was launched from French Guiana. The primary focus of the satellite was to monitor environmental factors such as floods, sea temperatures, and earthquakes. One of the innovative features of ERS-2 was its ability to monitor the Earth’s ozone layer as reported by the British broadcasting company, BBC.
Almost three decades later, the European Space Agency (ESA) anticipates that the ERS-2 satellite, which has been orbiting our planet since its launch, is expected to descend into the Earth’s atmosphere today.
ESA has indicated that the satellite will likely be largely destroyed during its descent. However, it is possible that some fragments of the satellite may land on Earth’s surface. Any fragments that do reach the surface are expected to predominantly land in the ocean.
On Wednesday morning, ESA predicted that the satellite would enter the Earth’s atmosphere in the evening, specifically around 7:30 Finnish time. However, this timing could be off by several hours due to the varying density of the atmosphere affecting the speed of the satellite’s fall.
The ERS-2 was launched as a replacement for ERS-1, which was sent into space four years earlier. Operations for the ERS-2 satellite were ceased in 2011. Interestingly, due to a malfunction, the predecessor of ERS-2, ERS-1, is still orbiting over 700 kilometers above Earth. It is estimated that it could take up to a hundred years for ERS-1 to fall back to Earth, according to the BBC.
