Another Satellite To Plummet Back To Earth - Rosat
The world was gripped by the Nasa UARS satellite that fell back to Earth last Saturday – and now there’s another that’s plummeting back from orbit.
In late October or early November a Germany astronomy satellite – called ROSAT- will plunge uncontrolled back to Earth.
While slightly smaller than UARS, the German satellite is expected to have more pieces survive re-entry. The German space agency estimated that it has a 1-in-2000 chance of hitting someone - higher than the 1-in-3,200 odds NASA gave for UARS.
Heavens above: An artist's impression of the ROSAT satellite, which is expected to plunge to Earth in the near future:
The German ROSAT satellite was launched in 1990, 'died' in 1998 and weighs two and a half tonnes.
The German space agency estimates that 30 pieces weighing less than two tons will survive re-entry. Debris may include sharp mirror shards.
The German space agency puts the odds of somebody somewhere on Earth being hurt by its satellite at 1-in-2,000 — a slightly higher level of risk than was calculated for the Nasa satellite.
Again, it seems certain that information on when - or where - the satellite might land will be scant.
But any one individual's odds of being struck are 1-in-14trillion.
Heiner Klinkrad, head of the Space Debris Office at the European Space Agency, said in a webcast posted on the German Aerospace Center's website: ‘It is not possible to accurately predict ROSAT's re-entry.
‘The uncertainty will decrease as the moment of re-entry approaches. It will not be possible to make any kind of reliable forecast about where the satellite will actually come down until about one or two hours before the fact.’
Experts believe that two dozen metal pieces from the bus-sized Nasa satellite fell over a 500-mile span in the Pacific Ocean.
It began hitting the water southwest of Christmas Island.
Re: Another Satellite To Plummet Back To Earth - Rosat
Nasa estimates that there’s a 1 in 3,200 chance that pieces of the defunct satellite could hit someone when it plunges from orbit. Chances of a hole in one are 1 in 12,750 and I already made two of those thus far.