I've talked about how our Project Calliope picosatellite will burn up entirely upon reentry. Larger stuff, not so easy. UT reports in the cutely titled "Look Out Below!" that the 6-ton URAS is going to reenter, messily, this Fall.
“Satellites re-entering is actually very commonplace,” Johnson said.
“Last year, for example, we averaged over one object per day falling
back uncontrolled into the atmosphere,” and for those coming back in an
uncontrolled fashion – meaning it is a crapshoot when and where they
fall — there were 75 metric tons of spacecraft and rocket bodies
falling back to Earth.
Alex
finishing ebook #1 on Project Calliope this week for O'Reilly Media
Old NID
82481