The European Space Agency (ESA) has shared remarkable pictures showing one of its satellites in what it describes as a tumbling descent.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has shared remarkable images showing one of its satellites in what it describes as a “tumbling descent.”
ESA’s European Remote Sensing 2 satellite (ERS-2) is expected to burn up during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday.
The images (below) were captured around three weeks ago by Australian commercial imaging company HEO when the satellite was at an altitude of around 150 miles (300 kilometers).
ERS-2 has since descended to an altitude of around 125 miles (200 km) and is falling by more than 6.2 miles (10 km) per day, with its speed rapidly increasing.
