Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, January 10 (Xinhua)-- NASA's Earth Exploration Satellite (ERBS) re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at 11:04 EDT on Sunday, January 8, after nearly 40 years in space.

The US Defense Department says the earth exploration satellite was put into orbit in 1984 and weighed 2450 kilograms. It returned to orbit on the 8th day local time and crashed into the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from Alaska.

NASA said that the main body of the satellite will burn up as it passes through the atmosphere, but some bits and pieces will survive re-entry, and the risk of injury to anyone on Earth is very low-about one in 9400. There have been no reports of injuries or building damage caused by falling debris from the satellite.

▲ ERBS satellite NASA said that by falling into the atmosphere and destroying the satellite, it could get the satellite out of orbit more gracefully and reduce the risk of space debris. CTOnews.com learned that the satellite was launched in 1984, when there was not so much space junk in space.

The ERBS satellite was launched from the space shuttle Challenger on October 5, 1984 as part of the Earth radiation Budget experiment (ERBE) mission of the three NASA satellites. It carries three instruments, two for measuring the Earth's radiant energy budget, and one for measuring stratospheric composition, including ozone ERBS, which far exceeds its expected two-year useful life until it was decommissioned in 2005.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.