[mwt77932]

With my luck it will hit my car because I'm close to paying it off.

[Faline]

It weighs six tons, it’s spinning out of control and it’s going to plunge back to Earth some time this month.
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. It would be the first time in history someone was injured by space debris.
The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, ran out of fuel in 2005 and could land on any of six continents. NASA says it could land at any point between 57 degrees north and 57 degrees south - which includes almost all the populated areas of our planet (see map below).
Most of the satellite will burn up during re-entry, but a hefty half-tonne of metal will still plummet to the Earth’s surface.

The satellite could fall anywhere between the two latitudes, where billions of people live:


It’s being tracked by the Joint Space Operations Center of U.S. Strategic Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but Nasa admits it has no idea where it will come down, or when.
It predicts that it will enter the atmosphere in late September, but it could be October.
The space agency said that the crash site will be anywhere between 57 degrees north latitude and 57 degrees south latitude and the remains could scatter over a 500mile area.

That means pieces of it could land in Scotland – or somewhere in Chile.
However, a Nasa spokesman pointed out that there has yet to be any reported injury from falling space debris.
He said: ‘The risk to public safety or property is extremely small, and safety is NASA's top priority. Since the beginning of the Space Age in the late-1950s, there have been no confirmed reports of an injury resulting from re-entering space objects.
‘Nor is there a record of significant property damage resulting from a satellite re-entry.’
This satellite is far smaller than the 135-ton Russian space station Mir, which fell to Earth in 2001 or the 100-ton Skylab that fell in 1979.
Mir fell into the South Pacific, while Skylab hit the Indian Ocean and parts of sparsely populated western Australia. Because two-thirds of the Earth is ocean, space debris usually hits water.
Nasa is urging anyone who finds a piece of the UARS satellite not to touch it.
The spokesman added: ‘If you find something you think may be a piece of UARS, do not touch it. Contact a local law enforcement official for assistance.’
It was launched back in 1991 by the Space Shuttle Discovery to measure ozone levels, wind speeds and temperatures in the stratosphere.

[Faline]

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A SATELLITE FALLS TO EARTH?
Astronomer Dr Ian Griffin, from the UK Association of Science and Discovery Centres, says the Earth's atmosphere slows down falling satellites a great deal.
He explained that what remains of UARS will hit the ground relatively slowly and 'certainly not at orbital velocity of 17,500mph'.
Much of any satellite crashing to Earth will be disintegrated by heat, caused by friction with the atmosphere. It's the reason we get shooting stars - created by meteors burning up in the upper atmosphere. UARS is large enough, though, that up to half a ton will strike the ground. It will probably not be in one piece, however: space vehicles experience incredible stress on re-entry. The load can be as much as 10Gs. An F1 car experiences around 5Gs with maximum braking from high speed.
The reason why the location of the crash site is so hard to predict is because the density of the atmosphere varies so greatly higher up, producing different amounts of drag.
A prediction that was wrong by even a few minutes would mean the satellite landing a huge distance away, owing to its speed.

[Lee]

[Xfactor]

Originally Posted by **BUTTERFLYLOVE** ↗

can we sue NASA for injuries and or death

Yes you can, but you need to prove it was a satellite from the United States. So you will need a S#

[Flaka]

I'm curious to know why no one should touch it if it lands? anyone know or have any idea?

I feel bad for the person who gets killed by that shit

[Blewvane]

Originally Posted by Flaka ↗

I'm curious to know why no one should touch it if it lands? anyone know or have any idea?

I feel bad for the person who gets killed by that shit

There's no way of telling which parts will survive, and the parts will be emitting radiation as well. Also NASA doesn't want people poking around inside their technology, and you can't sell the parts on E-bay either.

[alpha.first.one]

Originally Posted by **BUTTERFLYLOVE** ↗

can we sue NASA for injuries and or death

no

[nerd]

Originally Posted by Peehnut ↗

I read this a little while ago and all I can think is if a chunk of that shit falls on my property theres no way I'm turning it in for free. Either NASA forks over some cash or its going on Ebay!

Right. Let me know how the burns heal, since you might end up being burned by chemicals or radiation.

[Faline]

NASA space junk experts say the giant satellite is plummeting quicker than expected, with the U.S. space agency now predicting the climate probe will smash to ground on September 23, a day earlier than previously reported.
And there is a one in 3,200 chance that pieces of the defunct satellite could hit someone when it does crash land. It would be the first time in history someone was injured by space debris.

The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, ran out of fuel in 2005 and could land on any of six continents. NASA says it could land at any point between 57 degrees north and 57 degrees south - which includes almost all the populated areas of our planet (see map below).
The bus-size satellite was expected to fall to Earth sometime this year, with experts initially pencilling a week-long window between late September and early October, then narrowing it to the last week of this month.
That window, NASA now says, has been trimmed to just three days

'Re-entry is expected Sept. 23, plus or minus a day. The re-entry of UARS is advancing because of a sharp increase in solar activity since the beginning of this week,' NASA officials wrote in a status update yesterday.