UARS 2220 23SEP11
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 ...
Consider it a a FR honor!
Thank you very much!
Did you decode the russian one? lol
So, there’s still a chance it could hit Caligula?
Also, this one ... keep refreshing to track
http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=21701&lat=46.877&lng=-96.789&loc=Fargo&alt=274&tz=CST
UARS 2220 23SEP11
So right now it’s heading for our west coast?
(It’s been a long time since I looked at charts like that.)
Yep, probably 10-15 minutes away
Oy! Hope it lands in Lake Tahoe or the desert.
Where’d you get that?
THIS JUST IN: Goodbye, Washington D.C.!
I had to download a program for it, you can uupdate the data file, too, each time you load the file
AGI Viewer
It looks like it’ll be running through SoCal, AZ, CO, SD, ND, and then central Canada.
Heads up! Post your observations!
uars 2231 23sep11
Oh, crap. That’s pointed straight at me....
Standing by to check outside in a bit from Texas (north central part) ...
Will it be visible if it is in the shadowed area?
You may find some precious metals in your backyard tomorrow.
How much is titanium worth per ounce?
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