One Starlink satellite was seen disintegrating in the sky from the Caribbean as it entered Earth's atmosphere. The event provided a light show similar to the passing of a shooting star or a meteor.
While burning in the sky, the item was recorded by many people in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, on September 6th at around 7:25 pm (local time).
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Witnesses were able to observe the moment the space object entered the Earth's atmosphere and traveled across the sky from southeast to northeast.
At first glance, the object in the sky could be mistaken for a passing meteor. However, experts claim that the event in the Dominican sky was, in fact, the fall of the satellite Starlink-30167.
During reentry, it burns up and forms smaller pieces that can be seen by people, said Eddie Irizarry, NASA ambassador and member of the Caribbean Astronomical Society.
(Image: disclosure)
Still according to Irizarry, despite appearing to be a space phenomenon, the satellite's debris appears slowly in the sky, whereas the meteors only take a few seconds to travel their path.
Launched on July 28 with 21 other satellites in Florida, Starlink-30167 failed to reach its destination and lost altitude until reaching the Caribbean territory in September.
These ultramodern machines consist of one of the largest projects in high speed internet. Currently, the Starlink constellation is made up of thousands of small satellites around the world in low orbit.
In 2019, the company started the space program and sent 60 satellites, but currently there are thousands of points that transmit internet to even the most remote areas of the planet.
SpaceX's goal is to have around 30,000 satellites connected to its internet system. To do this, they are sent into space in batches.
As the project progresses, some of the objects may fail and return to Earth, as happened with Starlink-30167. In February 2022, other satellites have already returned, after the launch of Starlink caused another light show.
