Aeolus was in orbit around Earth for four years, eleven months, and six days. For three hours at the very end, an extremely brief duration, it was space debris. This new animation is made from the last 8 images ever taken of ESAs wind-profiling mission, showing it starting to topple as it was buffeted by Earths environment, throughout its very short junk stage.
Aeolus reentered over Antarctica on July 28, 2023, at 20:40 -42 CEST. By turning Aeoluss natural, uncontrolled reentry into an assisted one, and picking the best reentry orbit, the currently really small threat from any enduring pieces landing near inhabited locations was made a more 150 times less risky.
Throughout Aeoluss first-of-its-kind assisted reentry in July, not only was the (already low) risk from falling debris decreased by an aspect of 150, but the time throughout which Aeolus was left uncontrolled in orbit was reduced by a couple of weeks, restricting the danger of collision with other satellites in this essential area highway.
In this infographic from ESA and UNOOSA, learn the length of time it would take satellites at various elevations to naturally fall back to Earth, and what should be done to properly get rid of them at the end of their lives. Credit: ESA/ UNOOSA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Moving Moments
Aeolus ended up being debris after the last command was executed at 17:43 CEST on July 28, 2023, after which the Flight Control Team might no longer speak to, hear from, or influence the satellite. After months of preparation and a week of extreme and important operations, the team had actually done everything they could, the satellite was passivated– shut off– and turned over to ESAs Space Debris Office which tracked its last descent.
Taking a look at the ground track (see the map below), the course on Earth that Aeolus was most likely to fly over, it was clear that the Tracking and Imaging Radar (TIRA) at Fraunhofer FHR in Germany would get a great view. Using their 34-m antenna, TIRA tracked Aeolus at around 18:20 CEST for about 4 minutes.
Aeolus reentered over Antarctica on July 28, 2023, at 20:40 -42 CEST. By turning Aeoluss natural, uncontrolled reentry into an assisted one, and selecting the very best reentry orbit, the currently very small threat from any surviving pieces landing near inhabited locations was made a further 150 times less risky. Credit: ESA
Spacecraft Observations and Final Reentry
” Spacecraft operators are used to being in a dialogue with their objectives, but debris cant talk. These last observations confirmed that Aeoluss last burn had worked out and that the now dead satellite had entered the anticipated elliptical orbit, with a minimum altitude of 120km,” describes Benjamin Bastida Virgili, expert in ESAs Space Debris Office.
” If you consider Aeoluss course as a slightly squashed circle, rather than a line, that circle was getting smaller sized and more circular as it returned, however its altitude would still fluctuate. We utilized this orbit info to compute a brand-new estimate of Aeoluss reentry time, which occurred just over two hours later and on our planned ground track.”
Final images of Aeolus throughout its quick stage as area debris obtained by the Space Observation Radar TIRA of Fraunhofer FHR (Note the color represents the radar echo strength, not temperature.) Credit: Fraunhofer FHR.
Aeolus remained in orbit around Earth for 4 years, eleven months, and 6 days. For three hours at the very end, an extremely brief period, it was area debris. This brand-new animation is made from the last eight images ever taken of ESAs wind-profiling objective, revealing it beginning to topple as it was buffeted by Earths environment, during its really short scrap stage.
International guidelines on area particles mitigation set a limitation on how long a satellite should linger in orbit when its mission is complete– it mustnt be longer than 25 years.
For objectives flying at low altitudes, their return is made much faster as they are comprehended by Earths wispy atmosphere and are rapidly brought home.
This was the last time the objective teams saw Aeolus. Still entire, it was just 2 hours from falling to pieces in Earths environment over Antarctica, far from inhabited regions.
At around 20:40 CEST for about two minutes, Aeolus became a fireball– a short-lived shooting star in the atmosphere.
” Normally, once an objective enters into the nose of its rocket and the fairing closes around it, thats the last time we expect to ever see it,” says Aeolus Mission Manager Tommaso Parrinello.
” With Aeolus, in a remarkable example of sustainable spaceflight and accountable operations, we stuck with the objective for as long as we could, assisting its return as much as it was possible to do, and these images are our final farewell to the mission all of us miss, however whose legacy survives on.”