NASA's Retired Satellite Set to Crash into Earth's Atmosphere.
NASA's RHESSI satellite, which studied the sun from 2002 until its decommissioning in 2018, is expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere around 9:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, plus or minus 16 hours. Although the majority of its 600-pound mass will be converted to ash and vapor, some components are expected to survive reentry. The risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is low. The RHESSI satellite helped scientists study energetic particles in solar flares.