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.

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.