NASA's vintage satellite has finally fallen to Earth after spending 38 years in orbit. The giant satellite called the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) crashed over the Bering Sea.
ERBS plunged into Earth on Sunday (8/1) night at 23.04 Eastern time. The Space Force confirmed the 2.7-tonne satellite made a reentry near the Aleutian Islands near Alaska, US.
NASA estimates that most of the satellite will burn up upon entering Earth's atmosphere, but it is possible that some debris will survive reentry and fall to the surface.
The US space agency previously said there was a 1 in 9,400 risk of falling debris hitting anyone on Earth. However, there were no reports of casualties or damage from the fall of the ERBS satellite.
NASA first launched the ERBS satellite in 1984 using the space shuttle Challenger. This satellite was flown to study how solar energy is absorbed and emitted by Earth.
The satellite is equipped with three instruments that are used to measure the concentration of water vapor, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and various aerosols in the stratosphere.
The ERBS satellite is part of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment program launched by NASA. The satellite was planned to only serve for two years, but its lifespan was extended until 2005. After that, ERBS was just a wreck in orbit, waiting to be pulled up into the atmosphere.
"ERBS far exceeded its expected two-year service life, operating until its retirement in 2005," NASA said in its official statement, as quoted by Space, Tuesday (10/1/2023).
"His observations help researchers quantify the effects of human activity on Earth's radiation balance," he continued.