The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) expects the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) to fall to Earth this weekend or early next week. The exact location of the fall has not yet been determined.
The satellite was launched into low Earth orbit by the space shuttle Challenger in 1984. The task of ERBS was to study the radiation balance of our planet. Initially, NASA wanted to decommission the satellite two years after launch, but the spacecraft ended up operating until 2005. For more than 17 years, it has been gradually decreasing and will soon fall to Earth.
According to the space agency, ERBS debris has a 1 in 9,400 chance of causing damage on Earth. Although the agency still does not know exactly where pieces of the apparatus will fall. With equal probability, they can fall on Asia, Africa, the Middle East or the western regions of South / North America.
The mass of the satellite is 2450 kg, but most of the spacecraft will burn up. According to NASA’s calculations, ERBS will enter the dense layers of the atmosphere on January 9 at 01:40 (EET) ± 17 hours, that is, it is possible that it will happen tomorrow.
