Dead satellite crashing onto Earth. Is it dangerous? Nasa says…
According to Nasa, a dead spacecraft will return to Earth in the following days. Fortunately, it is not expected to be dangerous to people.
A retired Nasa satellite will crash on Earth in next couple of days, almost 21 years after launch. The spacecraft is around 300 kg and it is expected that most of its part will burn as it re-enters the atmosphere.
The US military predicts that the RHESSI satellite (Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager), which was used to study Sun, would return to Earth about 9:30 pm EDT on Wednesday (7:00 am Thursday), with an uncertainty of +/- 16 hours. “Nasa and the Defense Department will continue to monitor re-entry,” a statement from Nasa said.
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The majority of the spacecraft is projected to burn up when it passes through the atmosphere, although certain components are expected to survive re-entry. “The risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is low – approximately 1 in 2,467,” Nasa said.
After more than 16 years of successful operation since its establishment in 2002, RHESSI was decommissioned on August 16, 2018. The detectors were not turned back on after the sixth anneal due to communication problems, according to the space agency.
Know about RHESSI satellite
RHESSI studied solar flares and coronal mass ejections from its low-Earth orbit from 2002 to 2018, assisting scientists in understanding the underlying physics of how such strong bursts of energy are formed. (ALSO READ: NASA satellite captures 'smiling Sun'. Know the science behind it)
RHESSI data gave crucial information regarding solar flares and their accompanying coronal mass ejections. During its mission, RHESSI captured almost 100,000 X-ray events, allowing scientists to analyse the energetic particles in solar flares.
RHESSI has documented the enormous variety in solar flare size throughout the years, from microscopic nanoflares to colossal superflares tens of thousands of times larger and more explosive, US space agency said.
RHESSI has achieved non-flare-related findings, including as improving measurements of the Sun's structure and demonstrating that bursts of gamma rays generated from high in Earth's atmosphere above lightning storms are more common than previously assumed.
