A 660-pound satellite fell to Earth over the Sahara in the early morning hours of Thursday. NASA’s retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or RHESSI, spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere Wednesday around 8:21 p.m. EDT.
“Re-entry occurred over the Sahara Desert region, at approximately 26 degrees longitude and 21.3 degrees latitude, according to the Department of Defense,” NASA told the Washington Examiner. “NASA expected most of the spacecraft to burn up as it traveled through the atmosphere, but for some components to survive re-entry.”
RETIRED 660-POUND NASA SATELLITE EXPECTED TO CRASH INTO EARTH ON WEDNESDAY
RHESSI launched in 2002 and remained in orbit for 21 years before a communication problem in 2018 caused the spacecraft to be decommissioned.
The satellite’s mission was to collect vital imagery of high-energy electrons to provide new information for researchers to study the energy released in solar flares.
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RHESSI captured 100,000 X-ray events and provided groundbreaking data of solar flares, taking the first ever recorded gamma ray images and high-energy X-ray images of the solar phenomena.
“At this time, NASA has not received any reports of any damage or harm associated with the re-entry,” the statement read.
