The Aeolus Mission Control Team in Germany is now wrapping up after a long week of complex operations. They have done everything they planned in what is a first-of-its-kind assisted reentry. Aeolus – a mission that revolutionised wind profiling – is now out of their hands.
From skilled engineers to space debris experts and the wonderful wizards in the flight dynamics team, it’s a proud moment in the Main Control Room. The satellite is not yet down, but everything they could do to guide it on its way, they did.
This whole assisted reentry attempt was done to reduce the already small risk of any surviving pieces landing over populated regions. The satellite wasn’t designed for this ending, but teams have pushed the satellite to its limits to turn a natural reentry into an assisted one.
Aeolus now turned off, they hand over to the Space Debris Office.
