Pieces of satellite that spun out of control expected to enter Earth's atmosphere on May 10th

[Emily]

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20160415_45/

Friday, April 15, 06:06 [h=2]JAXA: Harmful rotation damaged satellite[/h]
Japan's space agency says its troubled astronomy satellite may have damaged itself by spinning when it should not have. This was caused by a malfunction in the posture control system.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, launched the satellite, Hitomi, into Earth orbit in February. It was expected to become a new tool for scientists to observe the far-reaching universe through X-rays.

But in late March it stopped sending signals to ground control, and telescope images found the probe spinning, with some parts apparently breaking off.
...
A US military organization monitoring space debris predicts 2 objects, likely from the satellite, will enter the Earth's atmosphere by May 10th. JAXA says they will burn out in the air and have no effect on the ground.

http://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/astro_h/topics.html#topics7268

 

[Emily]

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/728750010326724608

Jonathan McDowell ‏@planet4589

Two of the ASTRO-H debris objects have now reentered - G and M, on Apr 24 and 20. I wonder if they were the large area-to-mass solar panels


5:55 PM - 6 May 2016

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/728750157194510338

Jonathan McDowell ‏@planet4589 May 6 Here is the Hitomi debris plot showing the rapid decay of the G and M objects