![]() The team hope the mission will act as a turning point for how to manage spacecraft at the end of their life as around 2,000 of the approximately 10,000 craft in space are defunct. Simonetta Cheli, the ESA's director of Earth observation, said the satellite was a "real success story", having lasted beyond its estimated deployment of three years. To our knowledge, this is the first time we have done an assisted re-entry like this," head of ESA's Space Debris Office Holger Krag said during a press briefing. ![]() You don't find really examples of this in the history of spaceflight. Since it ran out of fuel earlier in the month, the spacecraft had been falling toward Earth with gathering speed. Following a huge round of applause in the ESA's briefing room, the agency confirmed that Aeolus landed almost exactly where they expected it to.Īeolus had been in orbit since 2018 and was the first spacecraft to measure our planet's winds from space. The plan was for the satellite to reach 93 miles above Earth before the controlled entry would begin and it was hoped the satellite would enter somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean and then burn up while re-entering Earth's atmosphere. It was not destined for re-entry but was running out of fuel and time. The British-built spacecraft called Aeolus had an unprecedented return after completing a transformative space mission. ![]() It comes after a huge satellite crashed back to Earth in July after scientists controlled its re-entry. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |