A European Space Agency (ESA) satellite weighing 5,000 pounds, crashed into the earth on the 21st of February in the North Pacific ocean between Alaska and Hawaii. There have been no reports of damage or harm due to the crash. 

The satellite, which was named ERS-2, according to Ashley Strickland in a CNN article, “First launched on April 21, 1995, and it was the most sophisticated satellite of its kind at the time to be developed and launched by Europe” (February 22, 2024). According to Aliza Chasan from CBS News, “Its mission ended in 2011, when the European Space Agency began deorbiting the satellite. The deorbiting process helps prevent collisions in orbit and mitigates the creation of space debris” (February 21, 2024). According to the same CNN article from Ashley Strickland, Simonetta Cheli, Director of the agency’s Earth Observation Programs said that, “The ERS satellites have provided a stream of data which has changed our view of the world in which we live”.

There is no reason to fear such a thing harming anyone, as according to Addy Bink from The Hill, “The ESA says, however, that an object of similar mass reenters our atmosphere “every week or two” (February 21, 2024). You rarely ever hear such a thing harming anyone. According to the same CNN article used before, “The chances of an individual person being injured by space debris each year are less than 1 in 100 billion, about 1.5 million times lower than the risk of being killed in an accident at home, according to the agency.”