NASA Retired Solar Energy Imager Spacecraft to Reenter Atmosphere NASA's retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft is predicted to reenter Earth's atmosphere on April 19, with an uncertainty of +/- 16 hours. Launched in 2002, RHESSI observed solar flares and c
NASA’s retired RHESSI spacecraft, which observed solar flares and coronal mass ejections, is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere on April 19. The risk of harm to anyone on Earth is low. RHESSI’s 16-year mission contributed valuable data on solar flare physics and made discoveries about the Sun’s shape and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes.
An artist’s representation of RHESSI. Flying up above Earth’s radiation-blocking atmosphere, RHESSI could observe X-rays and gamma rays from solar flares. Credit: NASA Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager explored the basic physics of particle acceleration and explosive energy release in solar flares. RHESSI imaged solar flares by capturing energetic photons from x-rays to gamma rays; RHESSI also performed spectroscopy on these captured particles. Credit: NASA
After 16 years of operations, NASA decommissioned RHESSI in 2018 due to communications difficulties with the spacecraft. RHESSI was a NASA Small Explorers mission, managed and operated by the agency’sFebruary 5, 2002: RHESSI spacecraft launched aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL rocket. The mission aimed to provide high-resolution imaging of solar flares in X-rays and gamma rays.
RHESSI made discoveries unrelated to flares, such as improving measurements of the Sun’s shape, which is essential for understanding the behavior of the solar atmosphere and the physics of the Sun’s magnetic field. The spacecraft also found that terrestrial gamma-ray flashes—bursts of gamma rays emitted from Earth’s atmosphere over lightning storms—are more common than previously thought, providing insights into the interaction between Earth’s atmosphere and charged particles.
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