BERLIN — The European Space Agency says that one of its research satellites that ran out of fuel will most likely crash to Earth into the ocean or polar regions.
The agency said Sunday the crash is expected to occur between 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Monday.
It says “with a very high probability, a re-entry over Europe can be excluded.”
Spokeswoman Jocelyne Landeau said the satellite, GOCE, will mostly disintegrate as it comes down and “we will have only a few pieces which could be 90 kilograms at the most.”
ESA said Friday that humans are 250,000 times more likely to win the lottery than to get hit by the debris.
GOCE was launched in 2009 to map the Earth’s gravitational field.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Related Stories
Latest Articles
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.