Posted on 09/08/2011 5:49:18 PM PDT by TaraP
Heads up! That's the word from NASA today (Sept. 7) given the impending re-entry of a 6.5-ton satellite through Earth's atmosphere.
The huge Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled fall in late September or early October. Much of the spacecraft is expected to burn up during re-entry, but some pieces are expected to make it intact to the ground, NASA officials said.
The U.S. space agency will be taking measures to inform the public about the pieces of the spacecraft that are expected to survive re-entry.
"It is too early to say exactly when UARS will re-enter and what geographic area may be affected, but NASA is watching the satellite closely and will keep you informed," NASA said in a statement released today (Sept. 7). [Worst Space Debris Events of All Time]
The satellite launched to Earth orbit in 1991 aboard NASA's space shuttle Discovery and was decommissioned on Dec. 14, 2005. It is 35 feet (10.7 meters) long and 15 feet (4.5 m) wide
Small risk to public
One analysis of re-entry survivability for UARS components was performed several years ago with a software program called Object Re-entry Survival Analysis Tool, or ORSAT for short.
That computer analysis showed that about 150 component types, including the parent body of the satellite, will demise during re-entry, and 12 types (26 counting multiple components) would endure the fiery fall to Earth.
That appraisal indicated a surviving mass of 1,170 pounds (532 kilograms) falling within a debris footprint length of some 500 miles (800 kilometers).
"The risk to public safety or property is extremely small, and safety is NASA's top priority," noted a NASA website dedicated to the re-entry. "Since the beginning of the Space Age in the late-1950s, there have been no confirmed reports of an injury resulting from re-entering space objects. Nor is there a record of significant property damage resulting from a satellite re-entry."
Nonetheless, there is a chance that pieces of debris from the satellite will crash in areas accessible to the public.
According to NASA, on UARS re-entry day, "if you find something you think may be a piece of UARS, do not touch it. Contact a local law enforcement official for assistance."
NASA will host a press conference on Friday (Sept. 9) to discuss the anticipated re-entry.
Public to be informed...
It figures. It just figures, I’ve recently survived earthquake, hurricane and tornado within 2 weeks, then today’s flood that turned the not yet crested Susquehanna into the Amazon...you just know where this piece of space junk is going to hit.
Goron One.
Yes, must have been launched specially for “EGOR”.
You need to change your name to 'Lucky.'
I’m in Wilminton, NC and tonight I sat in the car waiting for my son to get out of karate class. I’m looking toward the moon when I see a very large object fall from the sky (to the left of the moon). I’ve seen plenty of shooting stars and this was unlike any I had every seen. It appeared as flames and sparks rather than a streak. Probably sometime around 8pm.
That is another load of US Grade AA gubmint bull crap. They don't know exactly when it will reenter (late September or early October) which means they are even less sure about where it will reenter. It will take a handful of minutes to fall from the edge of the atmosphere to earth. What meaningful information could they possibly provide under those circumstances? But, then maybe it's just that I have no trust in anything gubmint anymore.
Quick, someone paint a bulls eye on Mecca!
Oh by golly yess. It’s berry, berry good!
That’s not a satellite, it’s Obama’s approval rating.
Oh No!!!
We’re all doomed.
Well, it’s going to land somewhere and what with the way things are going these days, I wouldn’t get my hopes up that it’ll be in the ocean, although that’s where it statistically has the highest chance of landing.
And the biggest chunk landing square on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled fall in late September or early October.An "extra extra" topic ping to the APoD listmembers, to make up for my forgetfulness yesterday. Also, this looked interesting, I found it in the posting history of the latest troll.
About 0530 on Sept 07, I walk up to the shop door to get the truck out to go to work. As I begin to unlock the door, a blue green light lights things up considerably. It took me a second for it to click and I look up to see the largest meteorite I have ever seen as it breaks up and burns out.
None got near our brown, parched ground, thank goodness.
Way cool!
So, according to their odds, it’s ok for me to shoot my rifle in the air in a rural area all I want?
Meanwhile, their warning about picking up pieces is comical. One of my neighbor’s homes burned down last week. We were walking around exposed nails, broken glass, etc. I even picked up a shard. Oh the horror!
I survived, though. Just lucky, I guess.
Regarding Ebay, I think this may apply: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipwreck
See the “Shipwrecks and the law” part.
Leave a map with X marks the spot where the debris landed in your yard for your grandkids to pick up 50 years from now. Maybe then, they’ll be able to safely pick it up and put it on ebay.
The satellite was expected to fall to Earth sometime this year, with experts initially pegging a weeks-long window between late September and early October, then narrowing it to the last week of this month. That window, NASA now says, has been trimmed to just three days.
"Re-entry is expected Sept. 23, plus or minus a day. The re-entry of UARS is advancing because of a sharp increase in solar activity since the beginning of this week," NASA officials wrote in a status update today (Sept. 16). The projection is a day earlier than a previous forecast released by NASA yesterday.
NASA spokeswoman Beth Dickey confirmed with SPACE.com earlier today that the reason UARS is expected to fall early in its re-entry window is because of the sharp uptick in solar activity.
Solar effects from the sun can create an extra drag on satellites in space because they can heat the Earth's atmosphere, causing it to expand, agency officials have said.
Now it just makes a tiny mention of 'solar flux'. I wonder why they sanitized the story. [/sarc]
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