Huge Dead Satellite May Be Space Junk for 150 Years

An enormous Earth-observing satellite that was officially declared dead in space Wednesday (May 9) may stay in orbit for the next 150 years, posing a threat to other spacecraft zipping around our planet.

The $2.9 billion Envisat spacecraft, which is about the size of a school bus, went mysteriously silent about a month ago after 10 successful years of studying our planet from orbit. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced Wednesday that it had given up hope of recovering the satelite, which died a year before its planned 2013 decommissioning.

The announcement instantly made Envisat one of the biggest pieces of space junk in low-Earth orbit. Its body measures about 30 feet long by 16 feet wide (9 by 5 meters), but its 46-foot-long (14-m) solar array gives the satellite an even bigger profile. The dead spacecraft weighs 17,600 pounds (8 metric tons).

At the moment, the disposal plan for Envisat is simply to let the huge spacecraft spiral slowly down to a fiery death in Earth's atmosphere. In 2010, ESA scentists estimated that this could take 150 years or so.

[space.com]