The European satellite ERS-2, which observed the Earth for 16 years, burned up in the atmosphere. The fallback operation towards our planet began in 2011, to prevent an accidental destruction of this object in orbit.
In July 2023, the European satellite Aeolus returned to Earth in a controlled manner, from an orbit (300 km) lower than that of E RS-2. The probability of one of its debris hitting a person on the ground was less than one in a hundred billion, according to the ESA.