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On November 10, 2013, Europe's GOCE satellite fell to Earth.

GOCE is short for Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer. Its mission was to map Earth's gravitational field. GOCE did this for four years. Then it ran out of fuel. Controllers weren't sure where it would fall back to Earth or linger in orbit. Some people worried that GOCE might crash into a populated area. However, the small spacecraft broke up in the atmosphere and didn't cause any property damage. It disintegrated about 50 miles above the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. The European Space Agency called the mission a success. GOCE lasted far longer than expected. It showed small variations in Earth's gravity, mapped the structure of Earth's crust and mantle, and tracked ocean currents.

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Transcript
00:01On this day in space. On November 10th, 2013, Europe's GOCE satellite fell to Earth.
00:08GOCE is short for Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer. Its mission was to
00:13map Earth's gravitational field. GOCE did this for four years, then it ran out of fuel. Controllers
00:20weren't sure if it would fall back to Earth or linger in orbit. Some people worried that GOCE
00:24might crash into a populated area. However, the small spacecraft broke up in the atmosphere and
00:29didn't cause any property damage. It disintegrated about 50 miles above the Falkland Islands in the
00:35South Atlantic Ocean. The European Space Agency called the mission a success. It showed variations
00:40in Earth's gravity, mapped the structure of Earth's crust and mantle, and tracked ocean currents. GOCE
00:46even lasted far longer than expected. And that's what happened on this day in space.

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