European researchers pursued a satellite falling from the sky to learn how its burn-up affects Earth’s atmosphere. Their findings will help the space industry understand the harm it is doing to the environment and, hopefully, reduce its impacts.
It was shortly after noon local time on 8 September 2024 when a streak of smoke, burning as brightly as the midday moon, visible at the same time, appeared on the blue sky above the dark waters of the Pacific Ocean. Flying towards that fireball was a Falcon business jet carrying 12 researchers working under the banner of the European Space Agency (ESA). None were able to observe the daytime fireball as the windows of the aeroplane, which had taken off from Easter Island about three hours earlier, were covered with black fabric.
After that fleeting occurrence had passed, the passengers assembled around their computers to see whether any of the 26 cameras attached to the jet’s blacked-out windows had captured the event. The team had arrived at Easter...