Posted on 09/23/2011 10:07:53 AM PDT by Evil Slayer
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.
"The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," NASA officials wrote in a morning status update today. "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."
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Bush’s fault.
Dang, I thought it was gonna fall on China or India! Now we have to worry about this???
Is it too early for me to start selling pieces of it on E-Bay?
OH NOES!, OH NOES!
THIS IS HUGH AND SERIES!
My BEEBER IS GONNA GET STUNED!
Odds of being hit by a piece of it 1 in 3200.
Seem kinda high to you?
Awesome! Fireworks at halftime of tonight’s homecoming game!!!
Current odds in Vegas are 3150-1.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
If it lands somewhere in Washington DC, after an earthquake, hurricane, floods, etc., I’d wonder if we’re being told something.
Go ahead and put up an prank Ebay listing for pieces of the satellite and see how long it takes for Ebay to pull it!
Not sure about you guys, but I’m gonna go take a shower.
Where did you find the tracking? I wonder if it will be tracked here like the doomed shuttle was.
From the article...
"NASA officials have said the the chances that a piece of UARS debris hits and injures one of the nearly 7 billion 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."
The 1 in 3,200 is not an individual risk. If it was, there would be a mass casualty event wherever it fell.
Hmmm, 300,000,000 people in the USA so does that mean (300,000,000 / 3200) 93,750 people are going to be hit?
(hint trick question)
Ah, your statement would mean 2 million people will get clobbered by this thing.
Now, if that could be focused on San Francisco and Manhattan, that may not be such a bad thing...
...but I think NASA meant that there's a 1/3200 chance that ANYONE on the planet gets clobbered by this falling satellite.
The newsies are pretty excited about this.
And wash off all that sparkly, satellite-fairy dust off of you?
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