News: Hello - UARS Satellite....

UARS is a Nasa satellite, which has come out of orbit and is heading on a collision course towards Earth.

The lastest update from NASA is:

UARS Updates

Update #9

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 03:01:35 AM GMT



As of 9:30 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 110 mi by 115 mi (175 km by 185 km). Re-entry is possible sometime during the afternoon or early evening of Sept. 23, Eastern Daylight Time. The satellite will not be passing over North America during that time period. It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any more certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 24 hours.

Source:  http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html

Here is an artists impression of the the satellite (NASA):

UARS was originally launched on Sept. 15, 1991 as an "Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite", designed for a three-year mission .  After 20 years orbiting the earth its on its way out .  UARS  actually came to end of it official life when it was decommissioned on Dec. 14, 2005.   Its main functions were to measure chemical compounds found in the ozone layer, wind and temperature in the stratosphere, as well as the energy input from the sun. Together, these measurements helped define the role of Earth's upper atmosphere in climate and climate variability. 

Its size is 35-foot-long, 15-foot-diameter !

According to those in the know, they predict that it 'could land anywhere' between 57 degrees N and 57 degrees S.  That's most of the inhabited earth.  Although there are areas of desert, ocean and jungle which do not support populations of people, there are many who are quite hysterical with worry over being hit by this satellite or pieces of it.

Though NASA only give a 1:3200 chance that it will hit a human. With a world population of 7 billion people, I wonder if their ratio is correct and if it takes all factors into account.  How accurate do you think their ratio is.

Obviously its their satellite and they will want to downplay its downfall and the damage it can do.

Weighting a mere 6 tonnes and hurtling toward earth, it is predicted to break into 26 pieces.  Each of those pieces is predicted to land over an area of 500km.

Think of the speed they are travelling and the force at which they will collide with, when they do. Also consider that because they are entering the atmosphere this causes much of the 6 tonnes to burn up. The pieces that do collide with the earth will therefore either be on fire/in the process of burning up or unbelievably, boiling hot.

Read all about it here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/uars_science.html
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14955984
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9598000/9598111.stm
Video of satellite falling http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15009337

Info on orbital debris from NASA http://www.nasa.gov/news/debris_faq.html