Look down! A 1,300-pound NASA satellite is on its way back to Earth

All things that go up must eventually come down. NASA expects the Van Allen Probe A satellite to return to Earth after a 14-year journey through space. The agency expects the probe to begin returning around 7:45 p.m. EST on Tuesday, but says time could be off by up to 24 hours, meaning it could land at any time in the next day or two.

Launched in 2012, Van Allen Probe A is one of two satellites launched by NASA into orbit around the Van Allen radiation belt, which exists around Earth due to solar wind trapped in Earth’s magnetosphere. The probes were only supposed to stay in space for two years, but they eventually measured radiation for seven years before running out of fuel in 2019. Without fuel, the probes were unable to point themselves toward the sun to power their solar panels, and were shut down.

Once the mission was over, NASA initially calculated that the two probes would return to Earth sometime in 2032. The agency admits it did not take into account why that would happen. Maximum solar current. A solar maximum is a period of increasing instability on the Sun, leading to more intense space weather events. NASA says Additional solar wind It caused the probe to be retracted, accelerating its descent faster than initial calculations had predicted.

Data from these sensors are still used today to measure and predict the impact of solar wind and radiation on communications systems, navigation satellites, power grids, and even astronauts in space. The radiation studied by the Van Allen probes is also the same radiation they are responsible for All those wonderful afterglows It has become the Earth lately.

Will the probe hurt anyone when it returns?

NASA says most spacecraft will likely burn up upon reentry into the atmosphere, but some of their components are expected to survive the journey back to Earth.

The ingredients probably won’t hit anyone. NASA says the current odds of debris causing harm to humans are about one in 4,200, which is the minimum. The Space Force will continue to monitor the progress of Van Allen Probe A during the day in case these odds change.

The probe’s partner, Van Allen Probe B, is also scheduled to collide with Earth, but is not expected to arrive until sometime after 2030.