Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
NASA: Falling satellite still a hazard to U.S.
1:23 PM, Sep 23, 2011 | comments
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA's falling $750 million satellite is slowing its approach to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, and the spacecraft now is expected to make its destructive plunge back toward Earth late Friday or early Saturday.
NASA also back-tracked on previous reports that the satellite would not be passing over North America during its reentry.
"There is a low probability that any debris that survives will land in the United States, but the possibility cannot be discounted," NASA said Friday in its latest update.
The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite is skimming along in an orbit with high and low points of 105 miles and 100 miles. Solar activity no longer is influencing the satellite's rate of descent, and the spacecraft's orientation apparently has changed. Those two factors are slowing its fall.
NASA said it's still too early to say exactly when the 6.5-ton satellite will re-enter the atmosphere or where any surviving debris might fall. Air Force space surveillance trackers will be refining predictions in the next 12 to 18 hours.
NASA experts expect 26 parts of the spacecraft to survive reentry and fall back to Earth. Total weight of the parts: about 1,200 pounds.
And with about 70 percent of the planet covered by water, NASA says the odds of any single person being struck by debris are 1 in 3,200.
*Track the UARS satellite
By TODD HALVORSON
Florida Today
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
NASA is saying the satellite has "changed course and slowed it's orbit, as well as descent..."
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
USA is now a potential target again....
probably gonna drop in the ocean.
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
Looks like Peterle is safe again.
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
I give it a roughly 70% chance of dropping in the ocean.
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
LOL
Of COURSE it was too easy, that's why he SAID IT!
Ok...
I give it a 30% chance of falling on land.
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
If I remember correctly, the Pacific is significantly larger than Europe/Russia/Asia (altogether) - and you're looking at a Mercator projection chart there.
That means the stuff in the northern hemisphere APPEARS much larger than it really is especially above about 40 degrees north or so.
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
hey, I dunno about YOU, but I have to say I am quite HAPPY living on a sphere. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
What's this?!?! I thought all us Conservative bumpkins thought the Earth was flat?
:D
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
Huge Tumbling Satellite Could Fall to Earth Over US Tonight or Saturday, NASA Says
A huge, dead satellite tumbling to Earth is falling slower than expected, and may now plummet down somewhere over the United States tonight or early Saturday, despite forecasts that it would miss North America entirely, NASA officials now say.
The 6 1/2-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was expected to fall to Earth sometime this afternoon (Sept. 23), but changes in the school bus-size satellite's motion may push it to early Saturday, according to NASA's latest observations of the spacecraft.
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NASA Satellite on Collision Course With Earth
What are the chances of getting hit by space junk?
"The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," NASA officials wrote in a status update Friday morning. "There is a low probability any debris that survives re-entry will land in the United States, but the possibility cannot be discounted because of this changing rate of descent." [Complete coverage of NASA's falling satellite]
NASA expects about 26 large pieces of the UARS spacecraft to survive re-entry through Earth's atmosphere and reach the planet's surface. The biggest piece should weigh about 300 pounds. The spacecraft is the largest NASA satellite to fall from space uncontrolled since 1979. [6 Biggest Spacecraft to Fall Uncontrolled From Space]
NASA officials have said the the chances that a piece of UARS debris hits and injures one of the nearly 7 million people on the planet are about 1 in 3,200. However, the personal odds of you being struck by UARS satellite debris are actually about 1 in several trillion, NASA officials have said.
As of 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) Friday, the UARS satellite was flying in an orbit of about 100 miles by 105 miles (160 kilometers by 170 km), and dropping. NASA launched the UARS satellite in 1991 to study Earth's ozone layer and upper atmosphere. The satellite was decommissioned in 2005.
"Re-entry is expected late Friday, Sept. 23, or early Saturday, Sept. 24, Eastern Daylight Time," NASA officials wrote. "Solar activity is no longer the major factor in the satellite's rate of descent."
The sun has had an extremely active week, one that has included several solar flares. High solar activity can cause the Earth's atmosphere to heat and expand, which can increase drag on a low-flying satellite like UARS, making it fall faster.
Late Wednesday (Sept. 21), NASA predicted that the UARS satellite would not be over North America when it finally plunged down to the Earth's surface. That scenario has changed now that the 20-year-old satellite's descent has slowed, the agency said.
But where the UARS spacecraft will fall still remains anyone's guess. NASA orbital debris experts have said the satellite could fall anywhere between the latitudes of Northern Canada and Southern South America, a region of Earth that encompasses much of the planet.
"It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours," NASA officials wrote in the latest update.
Re: Bus-sized satellite to crash into Earth
I heard it landed on the Vatican....