Cluster

During earlier Cluster reentries the satellites entered safe mode during their final perigee pass because their solar panels overheated when they dipped deep into the upper atmosphere.

ESA is using the Cluster targeted reentries to collect reentry measurements intended to inform safer and more sustainable satellite designs.

Cluster 2 (Salsa) is one of the first pair of Cluster satellites that was guided to a targeted atmospheric reentry.

Targeted reentries of the four identical Cluster satellites enable researchers to compare how each spacecraft breaks up under slightly different trajectories and weather conditions to identify consistent fragmentation patterns.

Findings from the Cluster reentries and Draco are intended to feed into satellite design so more mass is guaranteed to burn up during reentry, lowering the chance that surviving parts could endanger people or infrastructure on the ground.

HawkEye 360 operates a constellation of nine satellites arranged in three clusters to detect, characterize, and geolocate radio frequency signals.