Reentry

  • In an historic experiment, ESA has made a controlled reentry of its Atmospheric Dynamics Mission-Aeolus (ADM-Aeolus) satellite in a maneuver designed to reduce the risk of such end-of-life events creating space debris or fragments reaching the ground.
  • ESA astronomers will be looking to the skies in November, when a piece of debris plummets back to Earth. The agency believes that by studying the reentry, it'll be able to gather data that could lead to more accurate predictions of how objects interact with our atmosphere.
  • After 12 years in orbit, the ESA is in the process of enacting its retirement plan for the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (Integral). However, while the agency is adjusting the orbit of the satellite now, the spacecraft won’t re-enter Earth’s atmosphere until the late 2020s.
  • Proving that not all the space spectaculars are on the big screen at Christmas, NASA has released video taken from inside the Orion spacecraft during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere earlier this month.