NASA’s 38-year-old retired satellite is about to fall from the sky, the space agency said on Friday. It said the chances of anyone being struck by debris were “very small”, according to news agency The Associated Press.
NASA said that most of the 5,400 lb (2,450 kg) satellite would burn up on re-entry, but some pieces are expected to survive. It also made the odds of being injured by falling debris about 1 in 9,400.
The science satellite is expected to come down Sunday night, give or take 17 hours, according to the Defense Department.
However, the California-based aerospace corp is aiming for 13 hours, give or take, on Monday morning, with the track passing over Africa, Asia, the Middle East and western regions of North and South America, the AP reports.
The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, known as ERBS, was launched on the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. Although its expected working life was two years, the satellite continued to make ozone and other atmospheric measurements until its retirement in 2005.
The satellite studied how Earth absorbs and radiates energy from the Sun. The AP reports that it has been sent special from Challenger.
Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space, released the satellite into orbit using the shuttle’s robotic arm. The same mission also featured the first spacewalk by an American woman: Katherine Sullivan.
Notably, it was the first time two female astronauts flew in space together, and the second and final space flight for Ride, who died in 2012.
(with AP inputs)
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