An old Soviet reconnaissance satellite is due to enter and burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday while any possible debris is projected to fall in the Pacific Ocean, Russian Aerospace Defense Force have announced.
“Analysis indicates that fragments of the Kosmos-1441 satellite will leave the near-Earth orbit on November 8, 2014 over the Pacific Ocean. The final date and site where the fragments may crash may change under the influence of external factors,” spokesman for the Russian Space Command Aleksey Zolotukhin told TASS.
Kosmos-1441 is a Soviet military ELINT (Electronic and Signals Intelligence) satellite that was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome back in 1983 onboard a Vostok rocket. It was a part of the Soviet and then Russian space-based military surveillance system, designed to detect radio-emitting objects, their type and mode of operation, including how active they are. Its one-year active service life is said to have expired in February 1984.
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The Aerospace Defense Force specialists maintain stable control and are tracking the spacecraft, which is currently orbiting the Earth at 88 minutes orbit time, 81 degrees inclination, apogee 215 km, perigee 204 km.
The agency also confirmed an earlier deorbiting of Kosmos-1939 satellite fell into the waters of the Caribbean Sea, which took place on October 29.