Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON: A NASA satellite is expected to return to Earth this weekend after nearly 38 years in space.
The NASA satellite Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) was launched in 1984 into the space shuttle Challenger.
The satellite was initially sent into space with a lifespan of only two years to study how the Earth radiated and absorbed energy from the sun.
NASA satellite made ozone and atmospheric measures
However, the satellite continued to make ozone and other atmospheric measurements until its retirement in 2005.
Now the 2,450-kilogram object is set to crash back down to Earth.
According to NASA, most of the satellite will burn up upon re-entry, but some pieces are expected to survive.
NASA said the chance of wreckage falling on anybody is “very low”, – putting the odds of injury from falling debris to anyone on Earth at about one in one-in-9,400.
