A European Space Agency research satellite ran out of fuel and burned up after re-entering Earth's atmosphere.
The satellite ran out of fuel on Oct. 21 and had been losing altitude as it was unable to escape Earth's gravitational pull, The Associated Press reported.
The ESA satellite burned up as it re-entered the atmosphere and the remaining debris plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. The ESA noted that "as expected, the satellite disintegrated in the high atmosphere and no damage to property has been reported."
According to Reuters, the satellite was called Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) and was launched in 2009 to research variations in Earth's gravity.
When the GOCE ran out of fuel the ESA noted that the computer models said the satellite would hit the upper atmosphere above the Falkland Islands.
"This would put the main area over which any possible GOCE remnants fell to the southernmost regions of the Atlantic Ocean," the report posted on the ESA website notes.
The last satellite to crash back into the Earth's atmosphere was Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars probe in 2012, which was a 14 ton satellite compared to the 1 ton GOCE.