NASA said Tuesday that the reentry location is not being disclosed, given lingering uncertainty over when and where it might go down.
This week, a decommissioned NASA satellite is predicted to crash to Earth, but observers say there is little likelihood that it will cause any harm. According to NASA and the Defence Department, the Rhessi science satellite will burn up and burn out Wednesday night.
Given the continued uncertainty about when and where it might crash, NASA stated on Tuesday that the reentry location is not being made public. A portion of the 660-pound (300-kg) satellite should survive the return trip, but the majority should burn up. According to a statement from the space agency, the likelihood of someone on Earth being hurt by falling satellite components is “low” — roughly 1 in 2,467.In 2002, the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or Rhessi, was launched into space.
Before being shut down in 2018 because of communication problems, the satellite observed solar flares as well as coronal mass ejections from the sun.
More than 100,000 solar events were recorded while it took pictures in high-energy X-rays and gamma rays.