According to the Russian Space Agency, the Koronas-F scientific satellite finished its orbital mission on Tuesday, 17:34 GMT, and almost completely disintegrated after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.
"According to the agency's information centre, the fragments of the spacecraft that did not burn upon re-entry plunged into the Indian Ocean at 20:34 Moscow time" - Vyacheslav Davidenko, spokesperson.
"Unburnt fragments of the two-tonne spacecraft fell in the southern part of the Indian Ocean east of the French island of Kerguelen at about 20:31, Moscow time on Tuesday." - Mission Control Centre.
More than 50 spacecraft belonging to various countries are removed from orbit every year.
"The agency regarded the situation as ordinary" - Vyacheslav Davidenko.
The Koronas-F satellite, the second in the KORONAS series, was launched on July 31, 2001 from the Plesetsk space centre in Russia into a circular orbit with an altitude of 507km. The satellite was oriented towards the Sun and was equipped with instruments for studying solar flares and solar energetic particle (SEP) events.
