Feeling the Heat!
Air drag and, sometimes, gravitational effects cause satellites to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. Occasionally, re-entry is caused by a deliberate decision of a satellite owner to fire a retro-rocket and bring some part of a space vehicle back to Earth.
Most re-entries result in the vehicle being destroyed by frictional heating as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere. Some fragments may get through and hit the Earth's surface - hence the system of TIP messages to warn of the event. Only a space vehicle fitted with a heat shield will get through the atmosphere for a landing.
NOTE - Names used here are as used by Space-Track rather than the more-descriptive ones in the Orbital Focus tables.
Anticipated Re-entries
Information comes from Space-Track. Most entries are from the 60-day decay prediction messages that are updated each week on Thursday at about 01:00 UTC. If the re-entry date has already passed then you might find the object is also in the actual re-entry list further down the page.
Below are re-entries expected over the next few weeks. The table includes only natural re-entries of satellites and rocket bodies. It excludes debris items and planned events like a Soyuz or a Dragon spacecraft returning from the ISS.
Cat No |
Designation |
Name (SpaceTrack) |
Predicted Date UTC |
Prediction Issued UTC |
51443 | 1998-067TF | DAILI | 2022 Jun 23 | 2022 Jun 16 | 52902 | 2022-066B | KZ-1A R/B | 2022 Jun 23 | 2022 Jun 23 | 48969 | 2021-060C | ONEWEB-0251 | 2022 Jun 25 | 2022 Jun 16 | 47927 | 1998-067SD | TSURU | 2022 Jun 26 | 2022 Jun 16 | 47931 | 1998-067SH | GUARANISAT-1 | 2022 Jun 26 | 2022 Jun 16 | 44369 | 2019-037E | ACRUX 1 | 2022 Jun 27 | 2022 Jun 16 | 47605 | 2021-009BK | STARLINK-2023 | 2022 Jun 27 | 2022 Jun 24 | 47159 | 2020-088AP | STARLINK-1874 | 2022 Jun 28 | 2022 Jun 23 | 47929 | 1998-067SF | MAYA-2 | 2022 Jun 28 | 2022 Jun 16 | 46921 | 1998-067RR | SPOC | 2022 Jun 29 | 2022 Jun 9 | 46927 | 1998-067RX | DESCENT | 2022 Jun 29 | 2022 Jun 16 | 44352 | 2019-036P | ARMADILLO | 2022 Jul 3 | 2022 Jun 9 | 44044 | 2018-092E | CHEFSAT-2 | 2022 Jul 6 | 2022 Jun 23 | 44364 | 1998-067QJ | REDEYE 1 (PINOT) | 2022 Jul 6 | 2022 Jun 23 | 39454 | 2013-067D | BREEZE-KM R/B | 2022 Jul 7 | 2022 Jun 16 | 49073 | 2021-074C | CZ-4B R/B | 2022 Jul 12 | 2022 Jun 9 | 46923 | 1998-067RT | NEUTRON-1 | 2022 Jul 14 | 2022 Jun 16 | 43142 | 2018-004AH | SPACEBEE-1 | 2022 Jul 17 | 2022 Jun 9 | 47925 | 1998-067SB | RSP-01 | 2022 Jul 17 | 2022 Jun 9 | 43042 | 2017-071F | AEROCUBE 7B | 2022 Jul 20 | 2022 Jun 23 | 43052 | 2017-071R | FAUNA | 2022 Jul 20 | 2022 Jun 23 | 31136 | 2007-013B | AAM/PSLV | 2022 Jul 21 | 2022 Jun 23 | 49273 | 1998-067SS | MAYA-3 | 2022 Jul 21 | 2022 Jun 23 | 49274 | 1998-067ST | MAYA-4 | 2022 Jul 21 | 2022 Jun 23 | 49259 | 2021-087B | CZ-3B R/B | 2022 Jul 23 | 2022 Jun 23 |
Recent TIP Messages
Publication of TIP messages is not a matter of routine and they are not issued for all re-entries. They are more up to date and more precise than entries in the table and take precedence over them.
Readers unfamiliar with how to interpret TIP messages are recommended to read the Note at the bottom of the page.
Sometimes there may be a delay between the final TIP message and the re-entry being formally logged in Space-Track's Catalogue so a Message here may relate to a re-entry that has not yet moved from the 'Anticipated' list to the 'Recent' list.
List updated: 2022 Jun 25, 00:47 UTC
Cat No & Designation |
Name (Space-Track) |
Predicted Date & Time UTC |
Lat, Long & Heading (10 km altitude) |
TIP Message Issued UTC |
52902 2022-066B | KZ-1A R/B | 2022 Jun 23 07:19 ± 1 minutes | 25°.6 south, 159°.1 east northbound, ± 0.01 orbits | 2022 Jun 23 09:44 | 52798 2022-060B | CZ-2F R/B | 2022 Jun 20 22:28 ± 1 minutes | 31°.5 north, 14°.6 west northbound, ± 0.01 orbits | 2022 Jun 21 02:55 | 52195 2022-034A | ELECTRON DEB | 2022 Jun 21 17:36 ± 23 minutes | 9°.3 south, 35°.9 west southbound, ± 0.3 orbits | 2022 Jun 21 21:30 | 47605 2021-009BK | STARLINK-2023 | 2022 Jun 27 06:38 ± 900 minutes | | 2022 Jun 24 06:10 |
Recent Re-entries
This table is extracted from Space-Track's Catalogue and lists major re-entries that occurred in the last 30 days, whether natural or deliberate. The list is updated every few hours.
Cat No |
Designation |
Name (SpaceTrack) |
Date UTC |
52902 | 2022-066B | KZ-1A R/B | 2022 Jun 23 | 52798 | 2022-060B | CZ-2F R/B | 2022 Jun 21 | 42893 | 2017-042BW | FLOCK 2K 12 | 2022 Jun 20 | 46927 | 1998-067RX | DESCENT | 2022 Jun 19 | 51510 | 1998-067TH | GT-1 | 2022 Jun 19 | 42877 | 2017-042BE | FLOCK 2K 35 | 2022 Jun 17 | 44369 | 2019-037E | ACRUX 1 | 2022 Jun 17 | 50164 | 2021-125J | STARLINK-3307 | 2022 Jun 16 | 42862 | 2017-042AP | FLOCK 2K 07 | 2022 Jun 15 | 43942 | 2019-005A | LINGQUE 1A | 2022 Jun 14 | 42867 | 2017-042AU | FLOCK 2K 37 | 2022 Jun 13 | 45258 | 1998-067RB | PHOENIX | 2022 Jun 12 | 52801 | 2022-060E | OBJECT E | 2022 Jun 12 | 52802 | 2022-060F | OBJECT F | 2022 Jun 12 | 47925 | 1998-067SB | RSP-01 | 2022 Jun 10 | 42884 | 2017-042BM | FLOCK 2K 25 | 2022 Jun 9 | 52800 | 2022-060D | OBJECT D | 2022 Jun 8 | 45224 | 2020-012AY | STARLINK-1214 | 2022 Jun 7 | 52799 | 2022-060C | OBJECT C | 2022 Jun 7 | 42860 | 2017-042AM | FLOCK 2K 21 | 2022 Jun 6 | 44366 | 2019-037B | PROMETHEUS 2-9 | 2022 Jun 6 | 46708 | 2020-073AQ | STARLINK-1809 | 2022 Jun 5 | 52796 | 2022-059B | SL-4 R/B | 2022 Jun 5 | 49379 | 2021-098A | PROGRESS MS-18 | 2022 Jun 1 | 42850 | 2017-042AB | FLOCK 2K 03 | 2022 May 31 | 42875 | 2017-042BC | FLOCK 2K 41 | 2022 May 31 | 49012 | 2021-063B | CZ-3C R/B | 2022 May 30 | 52510 | 2022-050B | OBJECT B | 2022 May 30 | 52393 | 2022-046F | CZ-11 R/B | 2022 May 29 | 42869 | 2017-042AW | FLOCK 2K 31 | 2022 May 27 | 52715 | 2022-055A | CST 100 STARLINER 2 | 2022 May 26 |
Note on TIP Messages
Close to re-entry time for many items, SpaceTrack issues TIP Messages with a more-precise warning of the event. The meaning of the TIP acronym is 'Tracking and Impact Prediction'.
The message includes an estimated latitude and longitude for when the object will go through a height of 10 kilometres (definition - Space-Track) above the ground based on the estimated time. It is a rough indication of the start point of the ellipse within which debris might fall given that horizontal velocity will have reduced to near-zero because of air resistance. In most cases, it is meaningless in practical terms because of length of the Window included in the Message covers a long track across the Earth's surface.
TIP Messages are often a source of confusion as people take the predicted time literally and ignore the error margin (Window) that is also part of the message. In 2011 RIA-Novosti used a TIP Message, issued several weeks in advance, to pinpoint a village in North Africa, doggedly insisting that it would feel the full force of of Phobos-Grunt’s re-entry. SpaceTrack's Window was ±2 days, representing over one million kilometres of ground track and a large proportion of the Earth's surface between 52° North and 52° South.
Page information updated as available
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