NASA, the North American space agency, has some satellites that are orbiting the Earth. One of these was ERBS, launched in 1984 via the space shuttle Challenger. Yes, 38 years have passed, so the satellite has finally returned home. NASA equipment was very important for years for its research, as it collected data, for example, those related to how the planet absorbed and radiated sunlight.
The "dead" satellite returned to Earth
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Launched in the 1980s, ERBS was essential to the space agency for many years. Until 2005, it had the function of collecting important information regarding the absorption and irradiation of solar energy across the Earth, in addition to being able to measure concentrations of ozone, water, nitrogen dioxide and aerosols in the stratosphere.
After 21 years of collecting data, the satellite still stayed away from Earth for a long time. Only now, after 38 years of its launch, it returns to the planet and falls into the Bering Sea on the last Monday, 9.
ERBS crashed to Earth
It is not yet known whether any part of the satellite survived the fall, not least because it was expected to burn up while passing through the atmosphere, but still NASA made a statement stating that there is nothing to worry about in terms of the risks caused, after all, the chance of him causing damage to anyone was 1 in 9,400.
ERBS was instrumental for researchers
The satellite was not expected to last so many years. The ERBS reached its 21st anniversary collecting data using an instrument that was part of it: the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II). With it, ERBES was able to observe the decrease of the ozone layer on a global scale.
After this realization, things changed a little, since only after that an international agreement was created, signed by several countries in 1987. They have pledged to drastically reduce the use of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs); a compound commonly found in aerosols and air conditioners.
A study proved that all this was essential for the planet, because if this position had not been taken at the time, the world would be on the verge of suffering a collapse in its ozone layer with 2.5° C more in global warming by the end of the 21st century.
