European Space Agency guides falling satellite to re-entry

July 28 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency said Friday it will attempt to guide a falling 3,000-pound satellite through the Earth's atmosphere to make sure it completely burns up over the Atlantic Ocean.

Normally, satellites fall back to Earth in an uncontrolled fashion, and while most do burn up in the atmosphere, an average of about 20% of each satellite survives re-entry. The risk of harm to anyone on the ground is small, with debris mostly falling into the ocean. But there's still a chance of damage.

The ESA said it has been orchestrating a deliberate deorbiting to make sure its Aeolus satellite leaves no trace. The mission team is conducting engine burns to lower the satellite's altitude.

"The very good news is that all four maneuvers of Phase II were successfully executed," ESA said on its blog on Friday. "They began yesterday afternoon and continued through the night and well into the early morning.

"Following last night's burns, Aeolus is already skimming the top of our atmosphere, already being buffeted by denser air -- our planet's protective shield -- in a preview of what's to come tonight. Aeolus is now sailing at an altitude below [100 mph]."

Holger Krag, head of ESA's Space Debris Office, said this is the first time to his knowledge that a re-entering satellite will be assisted back down to Earth.

"Today, we have 10,000 spacecraft in space, of which 2,000 are not functional," Krag said. "In terms of mass, we are speaking about 11,000 tons."

The Aeolus satellite had been studying Earth's winds from an altitude of about 200 miles, allowing weather forecasters to improve predictions of storms and other weather phenomena.