NASA’s 1,300-pound Van Allen Probe A re-enters Earth’s atmosphere over eastern Pacific after 14-year mission

Exam-focused facts from the 12 March 2026 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

NASA’s Van Allen Probe A, launched in August 2012, re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at 6:37 a.m. ET on Wednesday over the eastern Pacific Ocean region confirmed by the U.S. Space Force.
The probe and its twin Van Allen Probe B were designed to explore Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts and lasted nearly seven years instead of the planned two-year mission.
Mission ended in 2019 when the probes ran out of fuel and could no longer orient toward the sun.
Probe A’s re-entry was accelerated by the current active solar cycle increasing atmospheric drag, advancing the expected 2034 re-entry date.
Probe B is not expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere until the 2030s.