The disintegration of a Starlink satellite that the company SpaceX launched into orbit on January 24, 2021 to provide Internet communications over Spain has generated a spectacular fireball tonight that has been seen from multiple points in the country.
This fireball has been recorded by the detectors that the Red de Bolides y Meteoros del Suroeste de Europa (SWEMN Network) operates in different observatories in the country, which work within the framework of the SMART Project, coordinated by the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia ( IAA-CSIC).
The analysis of the principal investigator of the SMART project, José María Madiedo, of the IAA-CSIC, in which the data provided by some of the witnesses has also been included, has made it possible to determine that the satellite that originated the fireball entered the atmosphere ground at a speed of about 27,000 kilometers per hour at 11:00 p.m. yesterday, January 23.
260 kilos
It would be, explained the expert, a starlink satellite, with a mass of about 260 kilos, which the SpaceX company put into orbit on January 24, 2021 in order to provide internet communications.
The abrupt friction with the atmosphere at this enormous speed caused the object to turn incandescent, thus generating a fireball that began at an altitude of about 100 kilometers over a point located north of Morocco, almost on the border with Algeria.
From there it moved in a northwesterly direction and along its trajectory the satellite was fragmenting, so several fireballs could be seen advancing in parallel as each of these fragments became incandescent.
He ended up in the Cantabrian
According to the information available at the moment, the fireball would have crossed the entire Peninsula and finally would have reached Asturias, where it would have ended its trajectory over the sea Cantabrian.
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Therefore, any possible fragment of the satellite that had survived its abrupt passage through the Earth’s atmosphere would have fallen into the sea.
However, Madiedo has pointed out that the case is still under study in case new information could serve to obtain more data.