UARS expected to reenter late this week
Posted: Tue, Sep 20, 2011, 8:51 AM ET (1251 GMT)
NASA is predicting that a 20-year-old satellite will reenter the Earth's atmosphere on Friday, posing a very small but non-zero risk to the public. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), launched by the space shuttle in 1991, is in a decaying orbit as atmospheric drag slows down the spacecraft and lowers its orbit at an accelerating rate. As of late Monday NASA predicted the spacecraft would reenter the atmosphere on Friday, give or take a day. The satellite's orbital inclination of 57 degrees means it passes over most populated regions of the Earth. NASA expects that 26 pieces of the satellite, with a combined mass of 532 kilograms, will survive reentry and reach the surface. NASA has estimated that there is a 1-in-3,200 chance that debris from the satellite would injure anyone, with the most likely outcome that the debris falls in the ocean.
NASA is predicting that a 20-year-old satellite will reenter the Earth's atmosphere on Friday, posing a very small but non-zero risk to the public. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), launched by the space shuttle in 1991, is in a decaying orbit as atmospheric drag slows down the spacecraft and lowers its orbit at an accelerating rate. As of late Monday NASA predicted the spacecraft would reenter the atmosphere on Friday, give or take a day. The satellite's orbital inclination of 57 degrees means it passes over most populated regions of the Earth. NASA expects that 26 pieces of the satellite, with a combined mass of 532 kilograms, will survive reentry and reach the surface. NASA has estimated that there is a 1-in-3,200 chance that debris from the satellite would injure anyone, with the most likely outcome that the debris falls in the ocean.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Monday, February 9
Globe Telecom Seals Agreement with Starlink to Launch First Southeast Asia Direct?to?Cell Satellite Service
PR Newswire — 7:17 am ET (1217 GMT) Is Starlink still the un-jammable panacea many had thought?
Resilience Media — 7:16 am ET (1216 GMT) Sky is not the limit, India must guard the final frontier
The New Indian Express — 7:14 am ET (1214 GMT) Elon Musk said we'd reach Mars in 2026. Now, he says SpaceX is building a city on the moon.
Business Insider — 7:11 am ET (1211 GMT) Feel the boom: More and bigger SpaceX launches are coming to Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara News-Press — 7:10 am ET (1210 GMT) |
