NASA’s retired Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 11:04 p.m. … [+]
NASA’s Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) is no more after almost four decades in orbit.
The US Department of Defense confirmed via the space agency that the 5,400 pound satellite re-entered our atmosphere over the Bering Sea late Sunday.
“NASA expected most of the satellite to burn up as it traveled through the atmosphere, but for some components to survive the reentry,” an update reads.
ERBS was launched aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on Oct. 5, 1984, part of a trio of satellites with a mission to measure energy radiating from and being absorbed by the planet and certain parts of the atmosphere, like ozone.
Data collected by ERBS played an important role in shaping policies to reduce the use of industrial chemicals that were depleting the protective ozone layer. It was originally meant to operate for two years but remained functional until 2005. It’s been getting pulled slowly back towards Earth ever since.
Based on the possible re-entry tracks for ERBS, it’s pretty unlikely any debris will ever be found as it probably either fell in the ocean or some quite remote stretches of southwest Alaska.
A two-ton spacecraft isn’t a small object, but it’s of pretty minimal concern as a piece of space junk re-entering our atmosphere.
Over the past few years, China’s space program has caused a stir with its Long March 5B rockets making repeated uncontrolled re-entries. These boosters can weigh ten times as much as ERBS and certainly are reason for concern as they can create a debris field hundreds of miles across. But even this massive object largely burns up on its long, fiery journey from orbit to the surface.
When a meteor estimated to be 40 meters wide impacted our atmosphere and exploded over Russia in 2013, it blazed a bright trail across the sky as it burned up. Part of that huge bolide did survive to impact the surface and was eventually recovered from the bottom of a lake.
What was once probably a piece of an asteroid the size of a superyacht was whittled down to a small boulder just a few feet across.
RIP ERBS. Welcome home.
