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

Hundreds of stargazers reported fireballs in the southeastern United States earlier this week. But this was no natural phenomenon – just another case of dead satellite debris in Earth’s orbit.

The fireworks came from a defunct Chinese satellite that re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere Saturday night and burned up in New Orleans, Louisiana. The satellite’s re-entry caused bright streaks across the skies of several states, including Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi, according to reports shared online. Although the satellite did not pose a threat to visitors, its uncontrolled re-entry highlighted the need for better control of inert space junk.

🚨Update: Chinese surveillance satellite has entered 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 Report A fireball was sighted around 11pm on December 22, but dismissed the incident as “not a real fireball”. Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell later identified the source of the fireball as the Chinese imaging satellite Superview 1-02, which re-entered over New Orleans before heading north. wrote on x.

The orbital altitude history of GJ1-02, the Chinese sat as it re-entered the US last night pic.twitter.com/RrjEncYdvF

— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) December 22, 2024

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

Superview 1-02 was scrapped nearly two years ago, and was released to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner. Some satellite operators equip spacecraft with a controlled re-entry capability to reduce risk, but China is known for Bad orbital etiquette. The South China Morning Post summarized the incident, Reporting that the re-entry of the satellite “created a spectacular light show but caused no real danger” and added that “the incident was unintentional.”

Artificial satellites orbiting the Earth are at serious risk of collisions with other spacecraft. There are currently over 27,000 orbital debris to track The Department of Defense’s Global Space Surveillance Network, with many smaller pieces Strangers floating around. Like moving around at high speed, even small bits of material micrometeoroidsCan endanger active spacecraft in orbit.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is developing ways to improve spacecraft re-entry capabilities to help reduce orbital debris. D Destructive Re-entry Evaluation Container Object (DRACO)Launched in 2027, the satellite is designed to collect data during re-entry into 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 during decommissioning.