A vintage 1980s space satellite is about to make a comeback, but it won't be like the acid-washed mom jeans of yore.
A piece of NASA equipment is about to re-enter the atmosphere. According to the space agency, most of the craft will be destroyed, but some will fall to the ground or into the ocean.
Depending on whom you ask, when it will come back. The U.S. military predicts that it will fall at 6:30 pm. Give or take 17 hours. The crash of the satellite is estimated by the nonprofit organization that has been following it. Give or take 13 hours. At this point, it's not certain where it will hit.
NASA’s retired Earth Radiation Budget Satellite is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in early January. Credit: NASA illustration
According to NASA officials, the risk of harm to anyone on Earth is very low.
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The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite was launched on the Space Shuttle Challenger. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. The experiment was supposed to last two years, but the satellite continued to measure ozone, water vapor, nitrogen dioxide, and aerosols.
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Four recent high-profile crashes of Chinese equipment that have drawn intense global scrutiny because they were intentionally left out of control and could hurt people with a risk well above commonly accepted levels, will be followed by the plummet of space junk. The military-run space program did not alert the public prior to the incidents.
The Space Liability Convention of 1972 called for states to be responsible if something bad happens. The Soviet Union had to deal with the damage caused by the Kosmos 954 satellite falling in 1977. There is only one claim that has been filed.
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