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JAKARTA – The European Space Agency (ESA) announced that the Cluster mission will end soon. This mission officially ends after Salsa, the cluster’s first satellite, re-enters Earth’s atmosphere.
According to the ESA statement, Salsa will arrive in the atmosphere next September. Before Salsa returns, the spacecraft operator will first conduct maneuvers to confirm the landing site.
This satellite is expected to reach sparsely populated areas in the South Pacific. By identifying this location, ESA aims to study the process of safely entering objects from space into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Once Salsa re-enters the atmosphere, the remaining satellites in the cluster will cease service and enter Sentinel mode. The Rumba satellite will return in 2025, while the Tango and Samba satellites will return in 2026.
The cluster was first launched in 2000 to study interactions between the Sun and Earth’s magnetosphere, a protective shield for humans from charged gases, energetic particles and the Sun’s magnetic fields.
The cluster was originally planned to run for two full years. However, for several reasons, ESA extended its mission to 24 years in orbit. During his tenure, the cluster managed to produce 3,200 scientific papers.
According to ESA, clusters are very useful for scientists to study the sun’s impact on Earth’s environment. Scientists’ knowledge of the potential for dangerous space weather is also increasing.
Even if the cluster mission ends, the data from this constellation will be used forever. ESA will store cluster data in a secure archive so that researchers can review and analyze past events.
Tag: Space Europe Technology
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