European Space Agency’s old satellite Salsa is coming down from space, re-entry will happen here

An old satellite of the European Space Agency (ESA) is now heading towards Earth. It will re-enter the atmosphere on 8 September 2024. It will start burning as soon as it enters. The space agency is dropping it on Earth in a controlled manner so that it does not spread garbage in space. The target is the South Pacific Ocean.

If everything goes well, it will fall in the Pacific Ocean. The Salsa satellite will travel a distance of about 1.30 lakh kilometers and then come to Earth. Last year, the same agency had dropped the Aeolus weather satellite on Earth in a controlled manner. Bringing a satellite to Earth in this manner is called guided re-entry. So that it does not fall in a populated area.

Also read: ISRO Chief announces… Design of Chandrayaan-4 and 5 is ready, will launch 70 satellites in five years

Four identical satellites were sent into space

The European Space Agency has continuously sent four identical satellites into space since the year 2000. Their names are Salsa, Rhumba, Tango and Samba. All these are named after different dance forms. Their job is to keep an eye on the magnetic field of the earth. A cluster of these four was formed in space.

Also read: Golden sphere found in the sea of ​​Alaska, scientists surprised to see something new at such a depth

Life was two years, data is still being sent

The life of the cluster was only 2 years. But all these satellites are still working, except Salsa. All four worked for about 24 years. They kept sending data. Three are still sending data. The space agency officially declared the cluster of four satellites retired in 2002. All four were left to roam in space.

Also read: Chandrayaan-3’s new revelation… An ocean of hot lava used to flow on the moon

Guided re-entry is being done to avoid any accident

Keeping in mind the increasing garbage in space, ESA planned to make Salsa do a guided re-entry. So that the satellite returns to Earth without leaving any kind of garbage in space. Because scientists believe that there is a greater danger of a piece of the satellite hitting the Earth than a meteorite collision. Therefore, to reduce the danger, they are brought back to Earth in this way.