Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Wait a Minute!

An old, two-ton + spacecraft made its uncontrolled and fiery nose dive into the Earth’s atmosphere over the Bering Sea – off the coast of Alaska, near the Aleutian Islands.

NASA and the US Department of Defense report that the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite, ERBS for short, reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 11:04 p.m. EST on Sunday, Jan. 8^th.

ERBS deployment from space shuttle.
Image credit: NASA

Most of the 5,400-pound satellite was expected to “burn up” in its high-speed plunge through the atmosphere. Prior to its fall, NASA noted that some components of the satellite were considered likely to survive the reentry.

Deployed from the space shuttle Challenger on Oct. 5, 1984, the ERBS spacecraft was flown to measure the Earth’s radiative energy budget and measure stratospheric constituents, including ozone.

Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation/CORDS

Willy-nilly

The willy-nilly nature of the demise of the nearly 2.5-ton ERBS did trigger worries.

Due to the uncontrolled nature of the spacecraft’s demise, exactly where the craft was to auger in created a stir in Korea. ERBS predicted trajectory and possible reentry time took it across the Korean Peninsula.

“High Alert” – Seoul Incheon Airport
Image credit: CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia

That being the case, the Korean Ministry of Science and Ministry of Knowledge Economy (ICT, Postal and Future Planning) had issued messages asking residents to stay inside and for Korean people to remain vigilant about satellite leftovers that might reach the ground.

According to local media reports, several airports, including Incheon International Airport, did for a short period of time suspend flights due to the prospect of incoming debris passing through Korean Peninsula airspace. Overall all, according to The Korea Times, 29 flights were delayed in the region, including 18 departures and 11 arrivals.