Monday, November 11, 2013
Satellite likely incinerated as it returned to Earth
An artist's drawing depicts the European Space Agency satellite.
Officials say a large satellite that mapped Earth's gravity likely incinerated after re-entering the atmosphere Sunday, though some debris may have survived.
ORLANDO, Fla. — A large science satellite that mapped Earth's gravity likely incinerated after re-entering the atmosphere on Sunday, about three weeks after running out of fuel and beginning to lose altitude, officials said.
Ground tracking stations' last contact with Europe's Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) was at 5:42 p.m. as it passed 75 miles above Antarctica, Heiner Klinkrad, head of the European Space Agency's space debris office, wrote in a status report posted on the European Space Agency's website.
The official designation of space is the Karman line, 62 miles above Earth.
About 25 percent of the car-sized satellite was expected to have survived re-entry, with debris most likely falling into the ocean, European Space Agency officials said.
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By Irene Klotz of Reuters
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