When satellites fall back to Earth, most disappear unnoticed, burning up high above the oceans in a violent but largely unseen process.
For the European Space Agency, however, the final descent of its remaining Cluster spacecraft will be anything but routine.
Earlier this year, ESA executed a carefully timed set of manoeuvres, subtly adjusting the orbits of its final two Cluster satellites, Samba and Tango, so their controlled re-entries can be observed from a Falcon 900 research aircraft. The spacecraft will descend roughly 24 hours apart, on 31 August and 1 September 2026, over a remote stretch of the South Pacific Ocean.
