Falling Satellite Expected to Miss North America .

[Waster]

LOS ANGELES—While North America appears to be off the hook, scientists are attempting to pinpoint where and when a dead NASA climate satellite will fall to Earth on Friday.

The six-ton, bus-size satellite is expected to break into more than a hundred pieces as it plunges through the atmosphere, most of it burning up.

The best guess so far is that the 20-year-old Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will hit sometime Friday afternoon or early evening, Eastern time. The latest calculations indicate it won't be over the U.S., Canada and Mexico during that time.

Until Thursday, every continent but Antarctica was a potential target. Predicting where and when the satellite will land is an imprecise science, but officials should be able to narrow it down a few hours ahead of time.

While most of the satellite pieces will disintegrate, 26 metal chunks—the largest about 300 pounds—are expected to hit somewhere on the planet. With nearly three-quarters of the world covered in water, chances are that it will be a splashdown.

If the re-entry is visible, "it'll look like a long-lived meteor," said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

Since the dawn of the Space Age, no one has been injured by falling space debris. The only confirmed case of a person being hit by space junk was in 1997 when Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Okla., was grazed in the shoulder by a small bit of debris from a discarded piece of a Delta rocket.

The odds of someone somewhere on Earth getting struck by the NASA satellite are one in 3,200. But any one person's odds are astronomically lower— one in 21 trillion.

"You're way more likely to be hit by lightning" than by the satellite, Mr. McDowell said.

The U.S. tracks the roughly 22,000 pieces of satellites, rockets and other junk orbiting the Earth. Modern satellites must be designed to disintegrate upon re-entry or have enough fuel to be nudged into a higher orbit or steered into the ocean.

It isn't unusual for space debris to fall to Earth. NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office estimates that medium-size junk falls back once a week. Debris the size of the satellite due back Friday occurs less frequently, about once a year.

Mr. McDowell noted that two large Russian rocket parts fell this year with little notice.

"The only reason this is getting attention is because NASA, as a matter of due diligence, put out a press release," he said.

 

 

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[Antichrist]

Thats still insane... not knowing where it will fall is ridiculous. There should be more of a controlled descent. If someone were to be hit with a 300lb piece of satellite, it's not going to be a very good day for them...

[Waster]

It would hurt alright. In more ways than one.

[Jefke]

soon on ebay: parts of a satellite

[TulsaGeoff]

It's "only" going to fall at terminal velocity (200 mph) right? It's not coming down at some crazy speed is it?

 

The only confirmed case of a person being hit by space junk was in 1997 when Lottie Williams of Tulsa, Okla., was grazed in the shoulder by a small bit of debris from a discarded piece of a Delta rocket.

Great...

[Antichrist]

Terminal velocity will vary... Tons of factors will affect the terminal velocity of the satellite pieces.

 

http://www.grc.nasa....lane/termv.html

[Waster]

Might hit USA after all. So ya alot of factors

[Latino555]

I read the same exact article earlier today but it was printed..and when I read "Tulsa, Oklahoma", I thought about Tulsa Geoff lol

[bell reavue]

I read the same exact article earlier today but it was printed..and when I read "Tulsa, Oklahoma", I thought about Tulsa Geoff lol

 

As did I.

[Krayzie]

It's possible for the satellite to hit the US. They say if it's 25 minutes difference (can't remember if it was earlier or later) it would hit the US. They where expecting it to hit the Pacific.

[Wifestein]

I want to see a video of when it crashes on earth haha, wud look good i bet