ERS-2 satellite reentering the atmosphere at 23:49 UTC, on 29 January 2024. Image courtesy of ESA, HEO & UK Space Agency.
Following last week’s blog about the deorbiting of the European Remote Sensing (ERS-2) satellite, this week we’ve got an ERS-2 update, plus a second deorbit – with Cartosat-2 returning to Earth, and finally the launch of the Indian weather satellite INSAT-3DS.
ERS-2 Deorbiting
The latest information from the European Space Agency (ESA) from yesterday is that ERS-2 will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere around 21.00 UTC today, 21st February 2024. Although, there is currently an eight hour uncertainty bar on this time due to unpredictable solar activity – an update from this morning indicates the re-entry will now be around 1600 UTC with a two hour uncertainty bar. There will be further updates on ESA’s Rocket Science blog.
Interestingly, an Australian company, HEO, who have an office in the UK were able to take images of ESR-2 on its descent. Working with the UK Space Agency, the images were captured as ERS-2 passed the satellite on the 14 January, 28 January, 29 January and 3 February, as part of ongoing work to support safe and sustainable space operations.
Cartosat-2 Satellite Deorbits
In addition to ERS-2, last Friday saw an announcement from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) noting that they had completed the de-orbiting of the Earth Observation (EO) satellite, Cartosat-2.
Cartosat-2 was a high resolution satellite which was launched on 10 January 2007 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in India. It was put into a sun-synchronous polar orbit at an altitude of 635 km. The satellite was equipped with a panchromatic camera provided imagery with a spatial resolution of less than one metre and it had a swath width of 9.6 kilometres. The data from the satellite was used for applications including urban planning, coastal monitoring, monitoring of road networks, water distribution, and land use mapping.
The satellite was decommissioned in 2019, when the deorbiting process began. It would have taken Cartosat-2 approximately 30 years to deorbit naturally. However, following the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN-COPOUS) and the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) to limit space debris, ISRO decided to speed up the natural process. It began by lowering its orbit to 380 km in 2020, and further lowered it to 130 kilometres earlier this month. It re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on the 14th February, and analysis from ISRO indicate that all the major components of the satellite burnt up in the atmosphere. It is unlikely that any debris would reach the surface, but as it entered over the southern Indian Ocean anything would likely have landed in the sea.
Launch of INSAT-3DS
Following the successful decommission, three days later, ISRO successful put a new weather satellite into orbit. The INSAT-3DS satellite was launched on the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle from Satish Dhawan Space Centre. It is currently heading towards its eventual geostationary orbit almost 36,000 kilometres above the Earth.
It carries two main instruments:
- INSAT imager (IMAGER) is a multi-spectral imager with six spectral bands in the visible and infrared spectrum, and the data will be used to track water vapor and clouds.
- INSAT Sounder (SOUNDER) is a passive optical radiometer using 18 channels in the short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) and one visible channel. The instrument will create vertical profiles of temperature or humidity.
The mission aims to provide enhanced meteorological observations and monitoring of land and ocean surfaces for weather forecasting and disaster warning.
Summary
Whether it is going up, or coming back down, the one thing you can guarantee is that there is always something happening in the space industry!
