Don’t look up.
The US Department of Defense says one dead NASA The 600-pound satellite will return to Earth’s atmosphere Wednesday night.
The Reuven Ramati High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) has been floating in space for 20 years, observing and recording more than 100,000 solar events. But it was canceled in 2018.
NASA and the Department of Defense predict it will hit Earth within hours, but the odds of hitting “anyone on Earth are slim to none” with odds of 1 in 2,467. A NASA spokesperson said.
Earlier today, Kiev officials speculated that a satellite may have fallen over their city after a mysterious flash lit up the sky over the Ukrainian capital. But NASA told the BBC The satellite had not yet reached Earth.
Why is the satellite crashing to earth?
Dead satellites do not travel fast enough to get through the planet’s curvature before being dragged down to the surface. When gravity takes effect, it causes the satellite to fall to Earth.
Small satellites, such as RHESSI, will often burn up in the atmosphere as they descend. But some parts may still remain intact and strike the Earth.
Related: A museum is offering $25,000 to locate a meteor that hit Earth