"Capturing the Fiery Demise of Europe's Aeolus Satellite: A Final Glimpse"
The European Space Agency has released final images of its wind-measuring Aeolus satellite, which recently completed an "assisted reentry" to reduce the risk of debris falling to Earth. Aeolus was the first satellite to track terrestrial winds and provided valuable data for climate studies and meteorology. The images show the satellite tumbling as it interacted with the Earth's atmosphere before reentering and burning up, with only 20% surviving over Antarctica. The reentry operation tested new methods to reduce debris risk and will inform future end-of-life plans for space missions.