Samba's reentry recorded

On 31 August 2026, Samba reentered Earth’s atmosphere at 21:39:38 UTC / 23:39:38 CEST as the third of the four Cluster satellites. Samba had been specially lined up for a targeted reentry safely over the South Pacific Ocean, with the precision so high that a plane could fly out from Tonga and successfully record its demise for reentry science.

Following its targeted reentry on 31 August, Samba (Cluster II FM-7), the third of ESA's four Cluster satellites, was successfully observed by the ROSIE airborne mission 2026. The ROSIE reentry observation team acquired the image at Station 3 with a Nikon Z8 camera operated by University of Stuttgart (HEFDiG).

This reentry image was made with a so-called tracking camera, used to confirm that Samba is where it is supposed to be. It shows the surroundings, providing context such as the state of fragmentation and relative positioning of the fragments. It is complemented by other instruments that look for the presence of specific materials in the same field of view. This then helps the scientists identify which part of the spacecraft we are looking on their quest to understand how the demise takes place exactly.