Developing Story: NASA Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Expected To Reenter Earth's Atmosphere On Sunday

NASA has announced on January 6th, 2022 that the agency's retired Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) satellite will reenter the Earth's atmosphere on Sunday following 38 years in orbit, 21 of which being operational.

Updates

Updates will be available here as they are available.

Launch

Credit: NASA

ERBS launched aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on the STS-41-G mission on October 5th, 1984. You can learn more about the mission in our mission briefing (click here)

Operational

ERBS was operational from 1984-2005 (21 years), thus far exceeding the initial planned mission of 2-3 years. Although ERBS managed to overcome many of its issues over its 21 years of scientific operations, the satellite was finally lost in 2005 after its battery was no longer able to operate.

Reentry

Although much of the ~2449kg satellite is expected to burn up upon contact with the atmosphere, components of the satellite are expected to survive the intense conditions of entry.

Risk Factor

There's a risk wit every piece of space debris returning to Earth, both small and large. According to NASA's estimate, the risk of a piece of the satellite is 1 in 9,400.

This is exceeding NASA's own margin of 1 in 10,000 chance, however, it is hard to accurately predict where the satellite will enter this far in advance. TLP is monitoring the situation and we will provide updates in a timely manner as we receive them.