Why no one knows quite when a descending satellite will hit Earth this week

A satellite will hurtle down to Earth this week and no one knows quite when or where it’s going to land — but there’s no need to worry. In the space sector, this is standard operating procedure.  The satellite in question is the European Space Agency’s ERS-2. Launched in 1995, the spacecraft set new standards for Earth observation. It was also an extremely durable machine. Despite an original mission life of just three years, ERS-2 made it to the ripe old age of 15 before its operations were terminated in 2011.  Although the satellite was still functioning nominally, ESA initiated a…

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