A 38-year-old NASA satellite to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere 

There’s something about space news. Even if they are similar, you always get to learn something completely new. Okay, so what’s up in the space domain recently? Well, a NASA satellite named Earth Radiation Budget Satellite or ERBS in short that is more than 38 years old is now expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and thereafter crash upon re-arrival.  

While most of the wreckage is expected to vanish mid-air, some may survive and come down on Earth. Now, according to NASA, it causing any real-world injury to humans or their properties is very low, almost 1 in 9400. Nevertheless, whenever it comes down, it will be under constant vigilance by NASA in collaboration with USA’s Defense Department and Aerospace Corp. The entire process might take around 17 hours. The track that will be followed by the satellite is passing over Africa, followed by Asia and the Middle East and finally reaching North America.  

For those curious, the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite was launched in 1984 aboard a space shuttle named Challenger. It was meant to be a scientific research satellite and was part of a three-year long satellite mission called Earth Radiation Budget Experiment Research Programme. As the name suggests, the primary focus was on inspecting around the Earth’s radiation surface by analysing stratospheric aerosol and gases such as nitrogen dioxide and water vapour. Although the 5400-pound satellite was destined to run for two years, it was on duty for a whooping 21 years 9 months until it retired in 2005. Thus, apart from close Earth observation, the satellite was also involved in discovery of the ozone hole in 1985 and other atmospheric measurements, most importantly how the planet absorbed and radiated energy from the Sun.  

The satellite is historical as it was released into the Earth’s orbit by the first American female astronaut in space named Sally Ride. Not only that, she did the task by using the shuttle’s robot arm, another first for NASA. Wait, we aren’t done yet. As part of the same mission, the first ever spacewalk by an American woman named Kathryn Sullivan was also accomplished. In fact, this mission was the first ever where only two female astronauts flew together.