NASA has denied that a mysterious flash of light seen over Kyiv on Wednesday night was caused by one of its satellites scheduled to crash on Earth. Ukraine's military administration had claimed the bright glow was due to the re-entry of a 600-pound satellite, which NASA warned would re-enter the atmosphere around 9:30 pm ET after being retired in 2018 due to communication failure.
However, according to NASA's Office of Communications, the satellite was still in orbit at the time the flash was reported from Ukraine. The US space agency predicted that most parts of the spacecraft would burn up as it traveled through Earth's atmosphere at approximately 8:50 pm EDT. Both the American defense department and NASA continue tracking RHESSI (Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager), launched on February 5, 2002, with a mission observing solar flares.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell tweeted on Thursday that there is "zero" chance for RHESSI entering above Kyiv and confirmed it had "NOTHING TO DO with" what people saw over Ukraine. He added that potential impact zones indicated by astronomers include South America, northern Africa, central Asia, and China.
Preliminary findings showed that RHESSI had only a one-in-2,500 chance of harming someone on Earth when expected to fall back into our planet’s atmosphere later this week. The reentry project map places RHESSI over northwestern India as well.
The confusion surrounding this incident led authorities in Ukraine initially blaming either meteorite or satellite debris for causing panic among local residents who witnessed an unusual brightness in their city sky. An air raid siren also went off briefly during these moments but was quickly deactivated afterwards when no threats were detected nearby territory-wise nor airspace-wise beyond regular activities occurring daily nationwide.
NASA has suggested that the flash of light above Ukraine might have been a meteorite, rather than their space satellite falling to Earth. The Ukrainian air force stated that the flash was "related to the fall of a satellite or meteorite." However, NASA's spokesperson affirmed that when the bright glow appeared over Kyiv, their 600-pound satellite was still in orbit.