pjmedia.com By David Manney
A NASA research satellite weighing roughly 1,300 pounds is falling back to Earth after more than a decade in orbit. The spacecraft is known as Van Allen Probe A, one of two satellites launched by NASA in 2012 to study Earth’s radiation belts. Engineers expected the spacecraft to remain in orbit for years, gathering data about charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field. Now the mission has ended, and gravity started doing its thing.
The spacecraft weighs a bit over 1,300 pounds, which places it among the larger objects expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled descent. Most of the structure will burn up during reentry, although some components could survive the intense heat and fall to the surface. NASA engineers believe the risk of injury remains extremely low, though the spacecraft’s exact landing can’t be predicted with precision.
The mission began Aug. 30, 2012, when NASA launched the Van Allen Probes from Cape Canaveral aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The project operated under NASA’s Heliophysics Division, which studies the interaction between the Sun and Earth’s magnetic environment. Scientists used the satellites to measure energetic particles surrounding Earth and to understand how solar storms influence radiation levels in space. The research helped engineers design better shielding for satellites and spacecraft…
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