Research Center for Space Research at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Andi Pangerang confirmed that the luminous object passing over Mount Merapi and recorded on video is a satellite.
Andi explained that the satellite was Falconsat-3, which is one of the medium-sized satellites launched by FalconSAT, a satellite development program carried out by USAFA or the United States Air Force Academy. The satellite crashed near the waters of Madagascar.
"The latest update, Falconsat-3 with Catalog Number NORAD 30776U, has been declared reentry or entered the Earth's atmosphere on January 23, 2023 at 18.23 UT (24 or January 2023 at 01.23 WIB) in the waters of the Indian Ocean near Madagascar," Andi said via text message, Thursday (26/1/2023).
Andi explained, Falconsat-3 was originally scheduled to launch on December 8, 2006 from Cape Canaveral Air Base, Florida, United States.
"Because it coincided with STS-116 (shuttle mission to the International Space Station/ISS), its launch was postponed until it was finally launched on March 9 2007 at 03.10 UT (10.10 WIB) together with the MidSTAR-1 satellite," he explained.
He added that the satellite was launched using an Atlas V rocket for several missions.
"Falconsat-3 was launched using an Atlas V rocket, which was originally operated by Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMC), and is currently operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between LMC and Boeing," he explained.
Previously, a video showing a mysterious object passing over Mount Merapi on Twitter. The video footage went viral on social media Twitter.
The video of the incident was shared by the Twitter account @merapi_uncover. Based on the information on the video, the incident occurred on January 24, 2023 at 01.24.25 WIB.