ESA's Cluster quartet prepares for its final Tango
Two-year mission bows out after 26 thanks to some heroic engineering
The European Space Agency's Cluster quartet is preparing for its final reentry, with the fourth satellite, Tango, expected to join the others in an uncontrolled descent this evening. Samba, the first to reenter, lost contact on August 31 and crash-landed at 21:39:38 UTC. The other satellites, Rumba and Salsa, made their final descents in 2025 and 2024 respectively.
The final reentries conclude a mission that far outlasted its initial five-year design life. Initially launched in 2000, Cluster was designed to study Earth's magnetosphere in three dimensions. However, the batteries powering the spacecraft during solar eclipses failed after about a decade, rendering them inoperable. Despite the technical challenges, engineers ingeniously devised workarounds to keep the mission alive, only to face additional hardware failures which were also overcome through creative problem-solving.
The final reentry of Tango tonight will mark the end of an extraordinary mission, a testament to the resilience of both the satellites and the engineering team behind them, encapsulating the spirit of never giving up or surrendering.
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