Monday, November 11, 2013

Satellite hits Atlantic but what about next one?



(AP) This time it splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean - but what about next time?

The European Space Agency says one of its research satellites re-entered the Earth's atmosphere early Monday on an orbit that passed over Siberia, the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean and Antarctica.

The 1,100-kilogram (2,425-pound) satellite disintegrated in the atmosphere but about 25 percent of it - about 275 kilograms (600 pounds) of "space junk" - slammed into the Atlantic between Antarctica and South America, a few hundred kilometers (miles) from the Falkland Islands, ESA said. It caused no known damage.

The satellite - called the GOCE, for Gravity field and Ocean Circulation Explorer - was launched in 2009 to map the Earth's gravitational field. The information is being used to understand ocean circulation, sea levels, ice dynamics and the Earth's interior. The satellite had been gradually descending in orbit over the last three weeks after running out of fuel Oct. 21.

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