A satellite that scientists earlier predicted would hit the Earth's surface has safely burned up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Russian Space Command reported the satellite's disintegration upon atmospheric re-entry.
Russian space officials initially predicted that the defunct intelligence satellite Kosmos-1220 could have made it to the surface depending on the circumstances of its re-entry. The satellite was originally expected to splash down into the Pacific Ocean.
"As of February 7, 2014 the fragments are expected to fall on February 16. The exact impact time and location of the fragments from the Kosmos-1220 satellite may change due to external factors," said Colonel Alexei Zolutukhinm a Russian space official from the Russian Space Forces.
The satellite's re-entry was monitored by the Russian Space Forces using laser optics and electronic observation equipment. Despite the initial predictions, the military signal intelligence satellite disintegrated and burned up at 3:58 PM Moscow time (6:30 AM EST). Colonel Dmitry Zenin, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, confirmed the satellite's destruction.
The satellite was formerly a part of the Soviet naval missile targeting system back in the Cold War. It was launched in November 1980 and was used by the Soviet military until the end of its mission in 1982. Like many of the Kosmos series of satellites, it was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which was still part of the Soviet Union's territory during the time. Due to the satellite's sensitive mission, no details regarding its size and weight were released to the public.
The Soviet Union, and later the Russian Federation, launched a large number of Kosmos satellites for a wide variety of purposes. As of January this year, a total of 2,490 Kosmos satellites have been launched. The first Kosmos satellite was launched on March 12, 1962.
The de-orbiting of satellites can be a cause for concern depending on a number of circumstances. However, events like this happen fairly often and most of these decommissioned satellites either burn up in the atmosphere or splash down safely in the ocean. However, there are a few documented cases wherein satellites would make landfall. Satellite atmospheric re-entries can be particularly disconcerting when dealing with satellites equipped with nuclear reactors, which include many of the Kosmos satellites. An event like this happened in 1978 when a Kosmos satellite made landfall somewhere in Canada. Luckily, the area where the satellite crashed was uninhabited. However, radioactive waste from the satellite's nuclear reactor made the cleanup operations difficult.
