A dead NASA satellite will be crashing back into Earth’s atmosphere Wednesday, officials say, but the chances of it hitting “anyone on Earth is low.”
The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or RHESSI, will re-enter Earth after spending more than 20 years in space.
From 2002 until it was decommissioned in 2018, the spacecraft observed solar flares and coronal mass ejections, helping NASA “understand the underlying physics of how such powerful bursts of energy are created,” and recording more than 100,000 solar events.
NASA is receiving information from the Department of Defense on when the 660-pound spacecraft is expected to crash back into Earth.
When will the RHESSI spacecraft crash into Earth?
NASA said Monday the Department of Defense predicted the RHESSI spacecraft will reenter Earth’s atmosphere around 9:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, plus or minus 16 hours.
That window was updated Wednesday evening with a little more clarity: reentry could occur about 8:50 p.m. ET, plus or minus one hour, NASA said.
Where will the RHESSI spacecraft crash into Earth?
NASA said it expects most of the spacecraft to burn up as it reenters the atmosphere, but some components are expected to make it through and hit Earth.
The location of where it hit Earth was not disclosed amid uncertainty, but NASA said the risk of it causing harm to “anyone on Earth is low,” with odds of approximately 1 in 2,467.
“NASA and the Defense Department will continue to monitor reentry and update predictions,” the agency said.
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