A NASA satellite that observed solar flares and helped scientists understand the sun's powerful bursts of energy will fall to Earth this week, almost 21 years after it was launched.
The retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager spacecraft, which launched in 2002 and was decommissioned in 2018, is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere Wednesday at approximately 9:30 p.m. ET, according to NASA.
The spacecraft was equipped with an imaging spectrometer, which recorded the sun's X-rays and gamma rays. From its former perch in low-Earth orbit, the satellite captured images of high-energy electrons that carry a large part of the energy released in solar flares, NASA said. These solar events release the energy equivalent of billions of megatons of TNT into the sun's atmosphere within minutes and can have effects on Earth, including the disruption of electrical systems.
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