NASA’s 1,300-pound Van Allen Probe A to blaze through atmosphere, plummet to Earth's surface within hours
Re-entry to the atmosphere is expected to occur around 7:45 p.m. EDT on March 10.
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Weighing just over 1,300 pounds, NASA’s Van Allen Probe A is hurtling toward Earth, with its fiery re-entry set to slam into the atmosphere later tonight.
While the risk of it harming anything on Earth is low—approximately 1 in 4,200 — this will be its first entry back into Earth's atmosphere in almost 14 years after launch, according to NASA.
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After years of orbital decay, the satellite will likely disintegrate upon re-entry, though some fragments may survive the fall to Earth.
Re-entry to the atmosphere is expected to occur around 7:45 p.m. EDT on March 10, with a +/- 24 uncertainty difference.
Illustration of twin Van Allen Probes
(JHU/APL, NASA)
Launched to study the rings of charged particles surrounding our planet, from 2012 to 2019, the satellite, along with its twin, Van Allen Probe B, spent time exploring how Earth's magnetic field captures and releases radiation.
By mastering the dynamics of these belts, scientists can better protect our technology and astronauts from the 'space weather'—like solar winds and cosmic storms—that constantly bombards our atmosphere.
After the two spacecraft ran out of fuel, no longer able to move themselves toward the Sun, NASA ended the mission.
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After the mission came to a close in 2019, they analyzed data that showed the spacecraft to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in 2034, but scientists calculated those findings before the current solar cycle, "which has proven far more active than expected," they said.
By 2024, the Sun had reached its solar maximum, sparking frequent and intense space weather events.
These conditions intensified atmospheric drag on the spacecraft far beyond original projections, accelerating its descent and triggering an earlier-than-expected re-entry.
Van Allen Probes image showing three radiation belts first seen around Earth in 2012
(NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory)
The mission yielded major discoveries about how the radiation belts operate, including data that revealed the existence of a transient third radiation belt.
And all the data collected from both probes will continue to increase understanding of the radiation belts surrounding the Earth and play an important role in studying space weather and all of its effects.