A bus-sized defunct German satellite plunged to earth on October 23 after languishing in dead orbit for more than a decade, but space officials are not sure if any of its debris has hit the planet.
The 2.7-tonne Roentgen Satellite, or ROSAT, slammed into the earth's atmosphere sometime between 01:45 GMT (6:15 IST) and 02:15 GMT (6:45 IST) on Sunday, but there is no information if its debris fell on the planet, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) said in a statement.
“There is currently no confirmation if pieces of debris had reached the earth's surface,” the statement said.
However, DLR spokesman Andreas Schuetz said they would have to “wait for data in the next days” to know when and where the debris fell or could fall.
Scientists were no longer able to communicate with the dead satellite and it must have travelled some 20,000 km in the final 30 minutes before entering the atmosphere, he added.
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