Europe’s Groundbreaking Mission: A Satellite Set to Self-Destruct and Unravel the Mysteries of Re-Entry

PARIS – Europe is going to build a satellite on purpose to destroy it. The craft must enter the atmosphere to measure exactly what will happen. “In nearly seventy years of space travel, approximately 10,000 satellites and rocket parts have died in the atmosphere, and many more are on the way. But for something that happens so often, we don’t have a clear picture of a satellite’s final moments,” explained the European Space Agency.