Re-Entry: Flock 2E-8

Photo: NASA
Photo: NASA

Planet’s Flock 2E-8 Earth-imaging satellite re-entered the atmosphere on July 25, 2017 – decaying 14 months after being released from the International Space Station to join Planet’s orbiting constellation of Doves that image the entire Earth at least once per day.

NORAD ID: 41566
Object: Flock-1 CubeSat, 3U
Mass: ~4.5kg
Released from ISS: May 31, 2016 – 00:45 UTC
Origin: USA
Inclination: 51.6°

Re-Entry Prediction: July 25, 2017 – 16:31 UTC +/- 120 Minutes
Re-Entry Zone: Unknown

Satellite Description: Flock represents a constellation of three-unit CubeSats operated by Planet Labs to build an Earth-observation constellation based on CubeSats. The satellites were first released from ISS in February 2014 to start orbiting Earth for several months, acquiring images of chosen ground targets.

>>Flock Satellite & Constellation Page

Re-Entry Orbits
Image: Spaceflight101/Orbitron
X