That Was a Satellite Burning Up the Night Sky

VICKSBURG, Miss – A celestial body burning up on reentry to Earth Saturday night was seen by thousands of people all over the region.

On Saturday night, at 10:09 p.m. local time, what was originally reported as an EarthLink Satellite made it’s planned fall back to Earth. However it was a Chinese GaoJing 1-02 imaging satellite that fell. Numerous people from Mobile, Alabama to DeSoto county and beyond reported seeing the bright object in the night sky.

According to the database at Aerospace.Org, Starlink 3288 has it’s planned reentry in the same time period. 3288 is a first generation Starlink satellite. The GaoJing 1-02 imaging satellite reentered the atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico and crossed Mississippi in a northwest path. The planned return was one of three satellites burning up on return to Earth.

Starlink is a part of SpaceX

Starlink is a “satellite internet constellation” designed to provide internet services worldwide as a part of a larger telecommunications provider. The original plan called for over a thousand satellites to cover the Earth in a grid pattern to create an orbital shell.

The satellites have a lifespan of about 5 years. After that time they are intentionally allowed to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. When a satellite re-enters the atmosphere, the friction causes it to heat up and burn up completely, leaving no large debris to fall to the ground.

By actively de-orbiting old satellites, Starlink claims to minimize the amount of potentially hazardous debris in orbit.

Editor’s note – this story was updated with additional information.