The European Space Agency's (ESA) falling satellite, GOCE, missed land and any chance of causing damage when it fell early Monday in the Atlantic Ocean between South America and Antarctica, The Houston Chronicle reported. The closest land mass was the Falkland Islands, over 100 miles away, according to the ESA.
Previous reports projected satellite debris totaling 275 pounds to fall sometime on Sunday or Monday, though ESA personnel had no way of predicting where it would fall. Seventy five percent of GOCE launched in 2009 that successfully mapped out ocean currents, sea levels, and aspects of the earth's interior, was consumed by the atmosphere, leaving a remaining 25 to 35 pieces - one as large as 200 pounds according to Friday's reports - to inflict potential property or bodily damage.
That possibility was very small, which is why many satellites are sent into space with the end plan of "uncontrolled re-entry." Even with those remote chances, the United Nations imposed new regulations in 2008 (after GOCE was designed) to limit the amount of debris falling from space, which is expected to number 100 tons this year alone, according to The New York Times.
If a piece of space material is heading towards you, there's really no chance of avoiding it as it reaches speeds equal to that of a formula one race car, according to The Chronicle. Typically, material falls in small fragments that can span 100 miles. Sometimes, the pieces are so small that when they do strike land, like in 2011 when a descending satellite landed over the Netherlands, Germany, and Czech Republic, they leave no discernible evidence. Not a single person found a souvenir from that fall.
Nor has anyone ever been hit by space material or accrued significant property damage, according to The Chronicle. The most famous example of falling satellite material occurred in 1979 when 150 tons from Russia's Mir space station came down over the Pacific Ocean, though that event was heavily controlled by space officials.
