Falling satellite chunk may hit Canada, other locations within hours!!!


Agence France-PresseSeptember 23, 2011 8:39 PM

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/5443590.bin?size=620x400


WASHINGTON - The biggest piece of U.S. space junk to fall in 30 years is taking aim at a vast span of territory that includes Canada, Australia and Africa as well as plenty of open ocean, NASA said Friday.


The latest data showed the debris re-entry is expected between 8:45 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.Friday, Sept. 23.


The U.S. space agency stressed there was a "very remote" risk to the public from the 26 fragments of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) expected to survive the fiery re-entry into the atmosphere.


The latest data showed the debris could re-enter Earth's atmosphere between 11 p.m. Friday and 3 a.m. Saturday ET, according to NASA.


"During that time period, the satellite will be passing over Canada, Africa and Australia, as well as vast areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. The risk to public safety is very remote," the agency added in an update.


The Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at the California-based Aerospace Corporation predicted the re-entry would occur at 0404 GMT Saturday, plus or minus three hours.


The two dozen parts that survive the re-entry may weigh as little as two pounds or as much as 350 pounds, NASA said, and the debris field is expected to span 800 kilometers.


The tumbling motion of the satellite has made it difficult to narrow down the location. And given that the world is 70 per cent water, an ocean landing was considered likely.


"In the entire 50 plus year history of the space program, no person has ever been injured by a piece of re-entering space debris," said Mark Matney, an orbital debris scientist at NASA.


"Keep in mind we have bits of debris re-entering the atmosphere every single day."


The U.S. Department of Defense and NASA were busy tracking the debris and keeping all federal disaster agencies informed, a NASA spokeswoman said.


The Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice Thursday to pilots and flight crews of the potential hazard, and urged them to report any falling space debris and take note of its position and time.


Early Friday, Italy's civil protection agency warned that the probability of a crash in its northern territory had risen from 0.6 to 1.5 per cent, and urged residents to stay indoors, on lower floors, preferably near load bearing walls.


Orbital debris experts say space junk of this size from broken-down satellites and spent rockets tends to fall back to Earth about once a year, though this is the biggest NASA satellite to fall in three decades.


NASA's 85-ton Skylab crashed into western Australia in 1979.


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Falling+satellite+chunk+Canada+other+locations+within+hours/5450992/story.html#ixzz1YqKzFU3e

Canada, Africa, Australia, or the ocean? So in other words, anywhere on half of the planet?

yeah, pretty much! :D

As I was telling my friends tonight... if you're the first person to die from space junk at least you'll be remembered in history. If you were the second, you'll just be dead.

woohoo! party!

"a vast span of territory that includes Canada, Australia and Africa as well as plenty of open ocean"

Well, I'll risk going to sleep tonight and not worry. No doubt CNN has been slavishly following this "Satellite of the Century" story 24 hours a day for the past week.

From Twitter:

NASA NASA
We're still waiting for #UARS Done! confirmation. If debris fell on land (and that's still a BIG if), Canada is most likely area.

Beautiful very nicehttp://www.imgquick.com/images/43.gif

Beautiful very nicehttp://www.imgquick.com/images/43.gif

:banana:

NASA claims it's down somewhere in the Pacific, but the actual location is still unknown. And these people send humans into space? I love following the space program, but how can they not know for sure?

Anyhoo, I found this interesting. Notice the flash in the lower left corner 2 seconds in.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyyj/6176770735/in/photostream

One piece is in my backyard!

Pics or it didn't happen! kthx

'The biggest piece of U.S. space junk to fall in 30 years is taking aim at a vast span of territory that includes Canada, Australia and Africa as well as plenty of open ocean,'

Really? Why not just say the Earth -_-

Really? Why not just say the Earth -_-

Because then most people would panic and think their nation or island could be hit when there's a lightning bolt chance in hell it'll hit it.

From the looks of it NASA drew a "hit" map that went from Africa-Australia and then drew a line that crossed in a large curve formation into Canada.

As Colbert said two nights ago while spinning a globe to show where it might hit. "6 billion people live in the evacuation zone".

http://images.wikia.com/wikiality/images/d/d1/Stephen_from_Knox.jpg

"a vast span of territory that includes Canada, Australia and Africa as well as plenty of open ocean"

Well, I'll risk going to sleep tonight and not worry. No doubt CNN has been slavishly following this "Satellite of the Century" story 24 hours a day for the past week.

LOL It's a slow news day on this side of the border!

Well, seeing as the last Storm of the Century(tm) last month fizzled out, I guess they have to try and whip up some hysteria somewhere! :D

Landed somewhere in the Pacific off the West Coast. Debris in Western Canada not ruled out...

:storm:

Debris in Western Canada not ruled out...

:storm:

Western Canada and maybe Russia, China and the USA, too!! and possibly bits of the Southern Hemisphere, to boot!
We're probably more likely to get hit on the head from a frozen turd ejected from a commercial airliner!! hehe....

:storm:

^

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrz3qaFG0s1qbuj1do1_500.gif
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrz3qaFG0s1qbuj1do3_250.gif
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrz3qaFG0s1qbuj1do5_250.gif
:yes:

Western Canada and maybe Russia, China and the USA, too!! and possibly bits of the Southern Hemisphere, to boot!
We're probably more likely to get hit on the head from a frozen turd ejected from a commercial airliner!! hehe....

:storm:

Eww. That happened in Buffalo when I lived there. A bunch of people in a neighborhood woke up to a black ooze on their windshields! http://www.emoticonzone.com/msn-emotions/evil/yuck.png

they said reports that it fell in alberta were a hoax

Downtown Vancouver still intact.:storm:

We've all had a close call and near-death-experience(tm). I recommend we all join hands in a healing circle, for a group hug. :grouphug:

Downtown Vancouver still intact.:storm:

Really? When I look at this photo of Vancouver, I could swear the big piece hit it. Anyway, it looks pretty disastrous. :D

http://foreverdyingbrightly.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/1_VancouverSkyline11orig.jpg

Jking - don't hurt me!

So, any official reports as to where this space junk landed?

So, any official reports as to where this space junk landed?

Still nothing yet. They say the satellite re-entered in the Pacific and the debris field could be as much as 500 miles long. They think, they being NASA, that the debris is in the Pacific Ocean.

Dead NASA satellite plunges into the Pacific, exact location unknown
The Canadian PressBy Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – Sat, 24 Sep, 2011


Related Content

* FILE - In this file image provided by NASA this is the STS-48 onboard photo of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in the grasp of the RMS (Remote Manipulator System) during deployment, from the shuttle in September 1991. NASA's old research satellite is expected to come crashing down through the atmosphere Friday afternoon, Sept. 23, 2011 Eastern Time. The spacecraft will not be passing over North America then, the space agency said in a statement Wednesday evening. (AP Photo/NASA)



WASHINGTON - NASA's dead six-tonne satellite plunged to Earth early Saturday, but more than 10 hours later, U.S. space officials didn't know just where it hit. They thought the fiery fall was largely over water and the debris probably hurt no one.

read on source

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/whew-nasa-six-ton-dead-satellite-finally-falls-085437182.html



:)

Did it hit the Taco Bell target?

Isn't this an internet hoax?

Western Canada and maybe Russia, China and the USA, too!! and possibly bits of the Southern Hemisphere, to boot!
We're probably more likely to get hit on the head from a frozen turd ejected from a commercial airliner!! hehe....

:storm:

I was at work when I read this and couldn't stop laughing. :lol:

^^ It happened in one of John Water's goofy movies.... a guy got conked on the head with a rock hard frozen turd! :lol:

Pics or it didn't happen! kthx

They're coming...later. I can't post them yet or the RCMP will be all over this place. It's just a tiny little something in a tiny crater.

there is video of the satellite falling - it looked cool but you don't see impact just it flying across the sky

It probably fell like Skylab did, as explained here*:

<object width="640" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NAr2HkQr1YM&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NAr2HkQr1YM&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360"></embed></object>

*With big Truther bonus at the beginning! ;)

^^ That was so odd hearing him talking about it hitting the World Trade Center and knocking it over :eek:

Debris from bus-sized NASA spacecraft likely in Pacific Ocean


By Irene Klotz, ReutersSeptember 28, 2011 7:01 PM

http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/5451142.bin?size=620x400s


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Debris from a defunct six-tonne NASA science satellite that crashed to Earth on Saturday fell harmlessly in a remote area of the South Pacific Ocean, NASA said on Tuesday.

Experts estimated that as much as 1,100 pounds (495 kg) of debris survived the bus-sized satellite’s fiery plunge through the atmosphere, which started at midnight EDT on Saturday (0400 GMT on Sunday).

The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California determined that the U.S. space agency’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean at 14.1 degrees south latitude and 170.2 west longitude, NASA said in a statement.

That location is in Pacific in the rough vicinity of Samoa. The debris was then scattered between 300 miles and 800 miles (480 km to 1,300 km) from the re-entry point, NASA said.

“This location is over a broad, remote ocean area in the Southern Hemisphere, far from any major land mass,” NASA said, adding that the agency “is not aware of any possible debris sightings from this geographic area.”

Measuring 35 feet long and 15 feet in diameter (10.6 metres long and 4.6 metres in diameter), UARS was among the largest spacecraft to plummet uncontrollably through the atmosphere.

NASA now plans for the controlled re-entry of large spacecraft, but it did not when UARS was designed.

The 13,000-pound (5,897 kg) satellite was placed into orbit by a space shuttle crew in 1991 to study ozone and other chemicals in Earth’s atmosphere. It completed its mission in 2005 and had been slowly losing altitude ever since, pulled by the planet’s gravity.

UARS was one of about 20,000 pieces of space debris in orbit around Earth. Something the size of UARS falls back into the atmosphere about once a year.


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Debris+from+sized+NASA+spacecraft+likely+Pacific+Ocean/5473346/story.html#ixzz1ZJLn2RcN