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 ...
Blecch.
Probably.
Cuz it would kill the turtle.
Reports coming that it may have gone down in northern Canada about 30 minutes ago.
SchwartzNow Jeff Schwartz
by UARS_Reentry
Source? RT @BASEDDRAG: Getting a UNCONFIRMED report saying that #UARS may have gone down in Northern Quebec.
4 minutes ago
Tom A. Warner
ztresearch Tom A. Warner
by UARS_Reentry
RT @mycatthesquee: People north of Edmonton AB Canada saying they saw something “like fireworks” and 3 lights falling at10:20 pm MDT #UARS
4 minutes ago
frm Twitter:
SchwartzNow Jeff Schwartz
by UARS_Reentry
Source? RT @BASEDDRAG: Getting a UNCONFIRMED report saying that #UARS may have gone down in Northern Quebec.
Doing the wall lean.
Bush saved us from USA-193 back in 2008 when it was headed for the U.S.
He shot it down with our national missile defenses.
One wonders why 0bama didn't follow Bush's lead here...
This link shows it directly over Botswana right now on an East-Southeast path.
http://www.infosatellites.com/uars-satellite-tracking-norad-21701.html
Merde :)
Thanks, No doubt that is the “Bus”. I hope it didn’t hit anybody.
Fri Sep 23 2011 23:06:10 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) 365 of 464
txhurl to RaceBannon So Canada gets it?
Post Reply | Private Reply | To 357 | View Replies
RaceBannon gave the clue almost an hour ago.
How much of it do they think came down?
I think the Edmonton, AB and Quebec re-entry reports probably nailed it.
“Let me be clear ... uhh ... this satellite was launched by a ... uhh ... Republican administration ... I inherited this thing ...”
It did have a large solar panel, maybe that thing came off and decelerated quickly and fell over Canada.
The lightest pieces will fall first, the heaviest last.
That would lend some credence to the FReeper in Seattle who might have seen the beginnings of its re-entry.
It’s still overhead or at least a large portion of it is now flying over the Southwest Indian Ocean, according to the News.
That could easily just be a piece of it. The debris field will be large and violent.
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