The American space agency NASA expects a satellite to crash into Earth in the night from Wednesday to Thursday. In the crash, there is a one in 2,467 chance that the satellite will hit a human, says NASA.
It concerns the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, or the RHESSI. First launched in 2002, the spacecraft observed solar flares and coronal mass ejections for 16 years, according to NASA. The satellite was decommissioned in 2018 after NASA had communication problems with RHESSI.
NASA and the US Department of Defense predict that the satellite will arrive on April 20 at around 3:30 a.m. Dutch time. Experts take into account a clearance of about 16 hours.
Risk
Where on Earth the satellite will land has not been announced. Most of it is expected to burn up upon entry. However, there is about a 1 in 2,467 chance that debris from the satellite could hit someone on Earth. NASA calls this risk low, though it is much higher than other unusual risks people face every day.
For example, the chance of being struck by lightning is 1 in 1,222,000, the chance of being killed by a falling tree is 1 in 10,000,000, and the chance of being hit by a car is, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention 1 in 4,292.