On Wednesday, a light over the capital of Ukraine sparked confusion and anxiety as local officials said it was a NASA satellite reentering the atmosphere, however the US space agency denied any involvement.
According to Sergiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, a “bright glow” was seen over the city about 10:00 pm (1900 GMT).
Despite the fact that “air defence was not in operation” in the besieged nation battling a Russian invasion, an air raid alarm was activated, according to Popko.
“According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a NASA space satellite falling to Earth,” Popko said.
However, a NASA spokeswoman refuted this claim, telling AFP that the concerned satellite was “still in orbit.”
The retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager spacecraft (RHESSI), which weighs 660 pounds (300 kilograms), was scheduled to reenter the atmosphere on Wednesday, according to the US space agency’s announcement this week.
“However, that reentry has not yet occurred — RHESSI is still in orbit. NASA and the Department of Defense continue to track RHESSI. No other NASA satellite reentered the atmosphere earlier today,” a NASA spokesman told AFP.
According to NASA, the RHESSI spacecraft was launched into low Earth orbit in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018. It was employed to investigate solar flares.
Additionally, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, the flare was “related to the fall of a satellite/meteorite.”
After videos were posted to numerous networks showing a bright flash lighting up the sky over Kyiv, rumors and memes erupted on Ukrainian social media.
“While social media is amused by flying saucer memes… please do not use the official symbol of the Air Force to create memes!” the Ukrainian Air Force said.
In a statement on Monday, NASA said it expected most of the RHESSI spacecraft to burn up as it enters the atmosphere.
“But some components are expected to survive reentry,” NASA said, adding that the risk of harm to anyone on Earth was low — approximately one in 2,467.
