A defunct, 5,050-pound satellite has tumbled uncontrollably back to Earth after spending three decades in space.
"The risks associated with satellite re-entries are very low," ESA officials wrote in a Feb. 15 update. Because most of Earth's surface is covered in water or is otherwise uninhabited, the odds of getting hit with falling space debris are vanishingly slim; those odds are about 10 million times smaller than the annual risk of getting hit by lightning, ESA previously said.ERS-2's journey back to Earth began with an intentional deorbiting maneuver in 2011.
"It has provided us with new insights on our planet, the chemistry of our atmosphere, the behavior of our oceans, and the effects of humankind's activity on our environment — creating new opportunities for scientific research and applications," Mirko Albani, head of ESA's Heritage Space Programme, said in a statement.