Re-entry of NASA's abandoned UARS satellite into earth's atmosphere is expected late today or early Saturday, the space agency said in a new update. While NASA maintains that it will not be over North America at that time, they also insist it's too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty.
The biggest piece of US space junk to fall in 30 years could hit Earth late Friday or early Saturday, NASA said as it struggled to predict where and when the defunct satellite would crash.NASA stressed that the risk is "extremely small" that the 26 fragments expected to survive re-entry would hit any of the planet's seven billion people.As rumors of potential crash sites lit up the Internet, Italy took the unusual step of warning residents to stay indoors late Friday to avoid a 1.5 percent risk of the six-ton satellite hitting the northern part of the country.The latest NASA data showed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was slowing down and changing its path so that a US landing could no longer be ruled out. On Thursday, the US space agency has said North America was out of range."The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," NASA said in an update posted at 10:45 am (1445 GMT)."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," the update said."It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours," or between 0230 GMT and 0830 GMT Saturday.Parts that survive the fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere may weigh as little as two pounds (one kilogram) or as much as 350 pounds (158 kilograms), NASA said, and the debris field is expected to span 500 miles (800 kilometers).Orbital debris scientists say the pieces will fall somewhere between 57 north latitude and 57 south latitude, which covers most of the populated world.The tumbling motion of the satellite makes it difficult to narrow down the location. And given that the world is 70 percent water, an ocean landing was considered likely.
The biggest piece of US space junk to fall in 30 years could hit Earth late Friday or early Saturday, NASA said as it struggled to predict where and when the defunct satellite would crash.NASA stressed that the risk is "extremely small" that the 26 fragments expected to survive re-entry would hit any of the planet's seven billion people.As rumors of potential crash sites lit up the Internet, Italy took the unusual step of warning residents to stay indoors late Friday to avoid a 1.5 percent risk of the six-ton satellite hitting the northern part of the country.The latest NASA data showed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) was slowing down and changing its path so that a US landing could no longer be ruled out. On Thursday, the US space agency has said North America was out of range."The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," NASA said in an update posted at 10:45 am (1445 GMT)."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," the update said."It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours," or between 0230 GMT and 0830 GMT Saturday.Parts that survive the fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere may weigh as little as two pounds (one kilogram) or as much as 350 pounds (158 kilograms), NASA said, and the debris field is expected to span 500 miles (800 kilometers).Orbital debris scientists say the pieces will fall somewhere between 57 north latitude and 57 south latitude, which covers most of the populated world.The tumbling motion of the satellite makes it difficult to narrow down the location. And given that the world is 70 percent water, an ocean landing was considered likely.
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