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The end of the last two satellites of the Cluster mission and the ultimate data

22 Sep. 2026
The end of the last two satellites of the Cluster mission and the ultimate data
Figure 1: Re-entry ground tracks of CLU3 and CLU4
  • Debris from the Cluster Samba (C3) and Tango (C4) satellites—along with the STAFF instruments built by LPP (formerly CETP) and Lira (formerly Despa)—now lie in the South Pacific off the coast of the Tonga Islands (Figure 1), following the destruction of these two satellites upon atmospheric re-entry on August 30 and 31, respectively. They have joined the Salsa (C2) and Rumba (C1) satellites, which fell into the same region on September 8, 2024, and October 22, 2025.
  • This final phase of the mission included a last experiment—the study of the disintegration of the satellites and their components—by taking advantage of observations of the atmospheric reentry of four identical satellites placed on known trajectories. Following the reentry of Salsa (C2) in 2024, the reentries of Samba and Tango were observed from an aircraft equipped with 30 experiments. In both cases, high-altitude daytime disintegration was clearly observed (Figure 2: disintegration of Tango on September 1st).
Figure 2: Disintegration of Tango on September 1st
Figure 2: Disintegration of Tango on September 1st
Figure 3: Final STAFF-SCM observations
Figure 3: Final STAFF-SCM observations
  • The Cluster family—scientists, engineers, technicians, and controllers, the LPP Principal Investigator (PI) of the STAFF experiment was of course present, gathered one last time at the ESOC control center to follow the final moments of the two satellites in real time and present the final status of what would constitute Cluster’s ultimate legacy: the archiving at ESAC of over 24 years of carefully calibrated, high-resolution data.
  • Although flight operations and data collection officially ended on September 30, 2024, the ESOC control team had one final bonus in store for the WEC (Wave Experiment Consortium) instruments: on its last day, the three instruments (STAFF, WHISPER, EFW) and the FGM magnetometer were reactivated on Tango (C4), with data collected until the spacecraft passed out of view of the Kourou ground station, just minutes before disintegration (Figures 3, 4, and 5). Thus, this exceptional mission for our community concludes with the instruments fully functional and high-quality data collected right up to the very end.
Figure 4: Final STAFF-SA observations
Figure 4: Final STAFF-SA observations
Figure 5: Final Whisper observations
Figure 5: Final Whisper observations

 

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