German Aerospace Center on Sunday Morning (October 23’ 2011) reported that German’s Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT), has entered atmosphere. Up to 30 pieces of space debris could hit land or water. But, “there is currently no confirmation if pieces of debris have reached Earth’s surface,” a CNN’s headline cited the report.

Artist's impression of the ROSAT satellite in space. CREDIT: German Aerospace Center. Via: Space.com

It was on a joint mission for Germany, the U.S. and U.K., ROSAT launched in June 1990. It is an X-ray telescope observatory that studied radiation from stars, nebulas, black holes and supernovas. According to its mission description, as a report at Space.com reads, ROSAT helped scientists gain a better understanding of the origin, structure and evolution of the universe. That is based on the fact that Earth’s atmosphere absorbs most X-ray radiation.

The satellite was designed for an 18-month mission—means it should be decommissioned in 1992, but ROSAT “proved to be such a great success in terms of the scientific benefits it provided that the mission was extended for as long as was technically feasible,” CNN’s report reads.

It has only in the 1998, the satellite suffered a malfunction and was irreparably damaged. The German Aerospace Center officially decommissioned the observatory in February 1999 when a star tracker failed. And it has now fallen from space, reportedly entered Earth’s atmosphere Sunday, October 23’ 2011, after years adrift around Earth.

The weight of the X-Ray observatory satellite is about 2.7-ton, according to a report at Space.com, and is expected to break up as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere, but up to 30 large pieces of the X-ray observatory, including its heat resistant mirrors and other ceramic parts, could survive the fiery journey and reach the surface of the planet. Total mass of these fragments is estimated to reach up to 1.9 tons (1.7 metric tons).

“The largest single fragment will probably be the telescope’s mirror, which is very heat resistant and may weigh up to 1.7 tons,” according to the German Aerospace Center. “The likelihood of a person getting injured as a result of the re-entry is extremely low.”

Fragments could fall to Earth in about a 50-mile-wide (80-kilometer-wide) path as the satellite enters the atmosphere at 17,398 mph (28,000 kph) and breaks up under extreme heat, the agency said earlier.

It was not immediately clear where the satellite entered the atmosphere. The satellite’s orbit extends to 53 degrees northern and southern latitude, officials said. The satellite had been in an elliptical orbit between 351 miles and 363 miles above the surface, but in June, it was only about 203 miles high, the space agency said. And, based on the data: Europe, Africa and Australia appeared to be out of the path of the ROSAT. (below video is retrieved from Space.com)

Reported by CNN, as of 10:30 a.m. ET Sunday, the center was “still waiting for new data,” and had no update. ROSAT isn’t the first fallen satellite, however. On September 24, NASA’s defunct Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)—much larger compare to ROSAT—crashed into the Pacific Ocean. No victim was found.

German aerospace officials calculated that there is a 1-in-2,000 chance that someone somewhere on Earth will be struck by ROSAT debris, Space.com’s report reads. But, given that majority of the planet is covered in water, it is more than likely that ROSAT will not fall over land at all, orbital debris experts have said.