NASA satellite crashes to Earth after 14-year spaceflight

A 14-year spaceflight will come to a spectacular end on Tuesday.

The Van Allen Probe A is expected to enter the Earth’s atmosphere at 7:45 p.m. ET, plus or minus 24 hours, Space.com reported.

The probe was launched in August 2012 along with its twin, the Van Allen Probe B, to study radiation belts.

“The probes measured the particles, waves, magnetic fields, and electric fields that fill geospace, the region around Earth that includes its upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere,” Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory said.

They were deactivated in 2019, after what was supposed to be a two-year mission. It was extended to nearly seven years and the probes were deactivated when they ran out of fuel, NASA said.

The Van Allen Probe A, which is about 1,323, will burn up in the atmosphere... mostly. But some pieces may survive and crash onto Earth’s surface.

“NASA expects most of the spacecraft to burn up as it travels through the atmosphere, but some components are expected to survive reentry,” NASA said. “The risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is low — approximately 1 in 4,200.”

Space Force is tasked to monitor re-entry and to update the probe’s path, NASA said.

Van Allen Probe B is not expected to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere until 2030, according to NASA.