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NASA: Huge Defunct Satellite Will Fall to Earth This Week
NASA Space News ^ | 19 September 2011 | Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor

Posted on 09/20/2011 3:51:51 PM PDT by LucyT

A dead climate satellite that has been circling Earth for 20 years will make a fiery death plunge this week, with some pieces of the 6 1/2 ton spacecraft expected to reach the surface of the planet, NASA officials say.

The bus-size Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will likely plummet down to Earth sometime around Friday (Sept. 23), according to NASA's latest projections.

There is a 1-in-3,200 chance that UARS debris could hit a person, though NASA considers that scenario extremely remote.

"Re-entry is expected Sept. 23, plus or minus a day," NASA officials wrote in an update posted Sunday (Sept. 18). That means that by Saturday (Sept. 24), the UARS satellite should slam into Earth's atmosphere and break apart.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: debris; nasa; researchsatellite
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To: Reagan is King
That 1 in 3,200 chance of hitting someone seems way too high.

I agree - waaaay to high. Unless they're not telling us the whole truth... like there's 3,000 of them and they're all coming down ten minutes apart...and each of them weighs 20 tons... and no part of the orbit goes over water... and...and... and....

21 posted on 09/20/2011 5:52:03 PM PDT by GOPJ (126 people were indicted for being terrorists in the last two years. Every one of them was Muslim.)
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To: LucyT
"If any pieces of the satellite debris do fall over or near a populated area, NASA and the U.S. military warn the public not to touch UARS remains. Instead, local law enforcement officials should be contacted, NASA officials said. Any debris from the UARS satellite still remains the property of the U.S. government and cannot be sold for profit to collectors or on eBay, they added."

Yea, never mind that it was US taxpayer dollars that paid for this. I say screw them, finders keepers.

22 posted on 09/20/2011 6:18:22 PM PDT by Jed Eckert
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To: Jed Eckert

Just like MRE cases are marked Property of US Govt— Not for resale.... but it gets sold anyway.


23 posted on 09/20/2011 6:33:24 PM PDT by Redcitizen (Transmute lead into gold-- buy ammunition.)
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To: mnehring

hey the middle east is right on the path. be a darn shame to waste all that kinetic energy. ;)


24 posted on 09/20/2011 6:38:05 PM PDT by Redcitizen (Transmute lead into gold-- buy ammunition.)
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To: LucyT

And just why can’t those NASA supercomputers predict exactly where the satellite will crash. We have these same experts predicting global warming down to the thousandth of a degree and with all this proliferation of overpaid doctorates, they can’t even guess where the thing will crash?


25 posted on 09/20/2011 7:05:21 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (There's a pill for just about everything ... except stupid!)
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To: LucyT

Additionally, if I were the Food Stamp President or Eric (the bigot) Holder, I would be on the phone with the NASA clowns about this problem. Just think what a disaster it would be if the satellite crashed on their gun running operations ... the satellite would kill a third or so of the entire ATF and ruin the sales for the quarter and diminish Zero’s campaign donations from Mexican customers.


26 posted on 09/20/2011 7:10:59 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (There's a pill for just about everything ... except stupid!)
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To: LucyT

Just in time for Elenin, too???


27 posted on 09/20/2011 7:26:35 PM PDT by RaceBannon (Ron Paul is to the Constitution what Fred Phelps is to the Bible.)
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To: Jed Eckert
I say screw them, finders keepers.

What hits me is mine.

28 posted on 09/20/2011 9:09:06 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: Fantasywriter

I have no problem with that.


29 posted on 09/20/2011 9:20:59 PM PDT by Netizen (Path to citizenship = Scamnesty. If you give it away, more will come. Who's pilfering your wallet?)
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To: RetiredTexasVet
We have these same experts predicting global warming down to the thousandth of a degree and with all this proliferation of overpaid doctorates, they can’t even guess where the thing will crash?

No, we do NOT have the same experts predicting global warming and doing orbital mechanics.

They're two entirely different sets of experts.

The global warming crowd will bullshit you as soon as look at you, because that's all they have.

The actual rocket scientist and engineers are a real no BS crowd. If you screw up the orbit calculations, you'll smash a spacecraft into Mars. There's no room for BS.

And that's why the orbital mechanics crowd won't give you BS predictions as to when this satellite will finally bite it because they don't know. They know within some range of uncertainty, and they have a good idea of what that range is.

And that's what they're telling you.

The global warming crowd should learn about scientific honesty from them.

And you should quit slandering the rocket scientists by confusing them with the global warming idiots.

30 posted on 09/20/2011 9:21:21 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: ArrogantBustard

You are correct but the rocket scientists should urge NASA to stop using the credibility they built to back the global warming nonsense.


31 posted on 09/20/2011 9:31:26 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: Styria

Thanks, now I’m having nightmares of stat class, lol! Good info, thanks.


32 posted on 09/21/2011 6:52:02 AM PDT by Reagan is King
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To: GOPJ

That’s what I was thinking, that maybe there’s going to be 1,000 pieces instead of just a few big chunks that might get through. The odds would be greatly increased but I better let Styria (see post above) do the math on that!


33 posted on 09/21/2011 6:55:37 AM PDT by Reagan is King
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To: Reagan is King

I think Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s house would be a good place or if he is flying, his plane gets hit !

> Good idea! I’m thinking the Gaza Strip might be a good landing zone?


34 posted on 09/21/2011 7:01:09 AM PDT by CORedneck
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To: GOPJ

That’s what I was thinking, that maybe there’s going to be 1,000 pieces instead of just a few big chunks that might get through. The odds would change but I better let Styria (see post above) do the math on that!


35 posted on 09/21/2011 7:19:48 AM PDT by Reagan is King
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To: LucyT

Only difference is George was killed by a falling toilet seat. Whatever falls from the sky onto someone's head would stink.

36 posted on 09/21/2011 10:25:51 AM PDT by bgill (There, happy now?)
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To: Reagan is King

What speed would those pieces be falling and at what temperature?


37 posted on 09/21/2011 10:32:40 AM PDT by bgill (There, happy now?)
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To: bgill

I’m guessing 2,000 degrees F and 400 mph.


38 posted on 09/21/2011 11:06:05 AM PDT by Reagan is King
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To: mnehring

Ground tract of uars orbit... you’ve only got one track in your graphic. Could you post this one? Thanks.

http://www.space.com/12999-dead-nasa-satellite-falling-earth-sept-23.html


39 posted on 09/21/2011 11:13:43 AM PDT by GOPJ (126 people were indicted for being terrorists in the last two years. Every one of them was Muslim.)
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To: Reagan is King
Check this out - the debris field is over the most populated areas.

Some plutonium powered satellites were put up some years ago. Was this one of them? http://www.space.com/12999-dead-nasa-satellite-falling-earth-sept-23.html

40 posted on 09/21/2011 11:18:47 AM PDT by GOPJ (126 people were indicted for being terrorists in the last two years. Every one of them was Muslim.)
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