2024-02-22 20:13:45
Almost 30 years are added to the history of this European satellite, which only had a three-year useful life calculated. This is what we know.
The end of an important european satellite has arrived. The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed that ERS-2 crashed into Earth on Wednesday, February 21, 2024. With that, the story of this observation tool that was almost 30 years at the service of science.
An ending that began more than 10 years ago
The images of the event were taken by the space technology company HEO, using cameras aboard other satellites. These types of forecasts were possible, in large part, thanks to the fact that ESA was readyfrom the beginning of the current month, for the return of the satellite.
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The ERS-2 was launched in 1995. At that time, estimates indicated that the satellite It would only have a useful life of three years. The surprise is that the object far exceeded that. However, It was in 2011 when it stopped providing serviceso the agency made the decision, since then, to remove it from orbit.
Recently, the satellite reached the critical altitude of 80 kilometers. Due to the atmospheric resistance exercised at that point, the observation instrument began to be destroyedfinally reaching its fall at a point located between Alaska and Hawaii. No damage reported.
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Given the generation of satellites to which the ERS-2, these types of impacts are normal. However, The new ESA missions are designed to have a controlled re-entry to the planet.
What was the contribution of this European satellite?
This satellite came to occupy the honorable position of being ESA’s most sophisticated observing system. Its function was to obtain data from the Earth’s surface, oceans and polar caps, such as help monitor different natural disasters.
Finally, let us add thatThis European satellite was key to measuring the real magnitude of climate change.
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