Farewell to a Doomed Wind-Watching Satellite: Eerie Final Images
The European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite, which completed its mission to profile Earth's winds, has been captured in eerie radar images shortly before its fiery demise. The satellite, launched in 2018, spent nearly five years in orbit before being intentionally guided to safely burn up over an uninhabited area of Antarctica. The radar images, taken by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, provide a glimpse into the final moments of the mission and highlight the agency's efforts to mitigate space junk and ensure responsible operations.