Russian Reconnaissance Satellite Falls To Earth, Why?

JAKARTA – Russia's reconnaissance satellite reportedly fell to Earth on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. Observers in the Midwest of the United States (US) saw the incident when the Russian rocket caught fire and returned to Earth.

Based on a Space.com report, the American Meteor Society (AMS) said it had received more than 80 reports of satellite crashes that became fireballs in southern Tenessee and northern Michigan.

In addition, AMS has also posted a video of the rocket's fall which was captured by a number of observers. The video is 27 seconds long, recorded by Chris Johnson. In the video, something looks like a meteor in the sky above Fort Gratiot Township, Michigan, USA. The Russian rocket, named Kosmos-2551, has crossed the region.

"So I concluded that ID with Kosmos-2551 is solid," said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

For information, Kosmos-2551 is a Russian spy satellite that was launched on 9 September. Shortly after, the satellite is thought to have failed to orbit and crashed.

McDowell assessed that the satellite would re-enter Earth's atmosphere the next day, but that estimate was off by less than an hour. The downfall of the Russian reconnaissance satellite is not predicted to result in casualties or damage in densely populated areas.

Kosmos-2551 is estimated to have a weight of 500 kg. McDowell said no rocket fragments would fall to the ground. He also revealed that the rocket had already circled the globe 17 times a day after its launch.

The speed of Kosmos-2551 is about 17,000 miles per hour. This is slower than the movement of a shooting star. The rocket will take longer to break apart. Experts emphasize the importance of taking space debris like this seriously so that its fall can be controlled.

“There have been multiple reports from midwestern states of fireballs being spotted at around 12:43pm EDT last night. This event is not caused by a natural object. It was generated by the re-entry and fragmentation of satellites over the country's territory," NASA wrote in a Facebook post on the NASA Meteor Watch page.

Even so, the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) itself has not issued an official statement regarding the fall of his rocket.