Chinese Satellite Burns Over New Orleans, Creating Fireballs in the Sky

Hundreds of stargazers reported fireballs over the southeastern United States earlier this week. But this was not a natural phenomenon – just another case of dead satellites in Earth’s orbit.

The fireworks came from a defunct Chinese satellite that re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere Saturday night and burned up over New Orleans, Louisiana. The satellite’s re-entry resulted in bright streaks in the sky in several states, including Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi, according to reports shared online. Although the satellite did not pose a threat to observers, its uncontrolled re-entry highlights the need for better regulation of non-operational space junk.

🚨Update: Chinese surveillance satellite enters Earth’s atmosphere over New Orleans, Louisiana!pic.twitter.com/UGyp8Tx5dz

— US Civil Defense News (@CaptCoronado) December 22, 2024

The American Meteor Society received 152 witnesses reports of fireball sightings around 11 pm ET on Dec. 22, but dismissed the event as “not a real fireball.” Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell later identified the source of the fireball as the Chinese imaging satellite SuperView 1-02, which was passing over New Orleans before heading north. he wrote on X.

The story of the height of the orbit of GJ1-02, the Chinese returned to the United States last night pic.twitter.com/RrjEncYdvF

– Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) December 22, 2024

SuperView 1-02 was operated by the Beijing company SpaceView, and launched in December 2016 as one of two satellites belonging to a constellation for civil remote sensing. The two satellites were China’s first high-resolution Earth imaging satellites, according to Space.com. They were initially placed in the wrong orbit, ended up in an elliptical orbit instead of a circular one, and had to gradually raise their orbit over time to begin their mission.

SuperView 1-02 was decommissioned about two years ago, and left to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner. Some satellite operators equip the spacecraft with the ability to perform a controlled reentry to minimize the risk, but China is known for bad orbital label. The South China Morning Post downplayed the incident, report that the re-entry of the satellite “created a spectacular light show, but did not pose a real danger”, adding that “the event was not intentional”.

Defunct satellites orbiting the Earth are at serious risk of collision with other spacecraft. There are more than 27,000 pieces of orbital debris currently in existence traced from the Defense Department’s Global Space Surveillance Network, with many smaller pieces as well floating around undetected. High-speed movements, even the smallest pieces of material, such as micrometeoroidsmay endanger the active spacecraft in orbit.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is developing ways to improve spacecraft reentry capabilities to help reduce orbital debris. U Destructive Reentry Evaluation Container Object (DRACO)launched in 2027, it is a satellite designed to collect data during its re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere after a short-lived mission. A better understanding of the science of reentry could help scientists design future spacecraft that don’t risk damaging other machines in space when they’re decommissioned.