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Latest UARS satellite times…

EDIT 22:25 GMT: Follow the track of the satellite LIVE here: http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=21701&lat=0&lng=0&loc=unspecified&alt=0&tz=cet

A satellite currently the size of a fridge freezer is currently falling to earth and within a couple of hours of this blog post is likely to have already completed it’s re-entry. Nobody knows where it’s going to land but according to the latest estimates, this satellite will be visible from the northern hemisphere, looking south it will probably move across the sky from the right to the left (west to east) at 23:00. Estimates vary, so if you want to see the satellite, go outside somewhere with a clear view to the south and watch from about 10:45 until 11:15.

image
Source: http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=21701&lat=50.95843&lng=-1.40625&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=CET

The UARS satellite completed it’s 14 year mission from 1991 to 2005 and it has been passively orbiting Earth for the past six years. (It was expected to fall back to Earth and burn up back in 2009 or 2010).

Russian Roulette?

Not quite. Neil deGrasse Tyson, scientist & educator says on Twitter:

“Earth, in orbit, plows through several hundred tons of meteors per day. So we’ll all survive Friday’s 6-ton falling satellite” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

The crucial difference here is that this satellite contains many constituent fairly large parts that will easily withstand the re-entry temperatures and will be impact the ground. NASA give odds of the satellite colliding with somebody at 1 in 3000 although they don’t give odds for the satellite parts breaking up and hitting multiple people Smile Fortunately most of the earth is covered in ocean so the satellite parts will likely land there. It wouldn’t be the first that a piece of space junk has hit someone.

The odds, however of the satellite hitting YOU are much smaller – in the magnitude of 1 in many trillion. In the words of the UK’s National Lottery, “It could be you…” Smile

image“It’s you….!”

I’ll be outside trying to capture it with my camera Smile

The science obtained from UARS: http://science.nasa.gov/missions/uars/

{ 3 comments… add one }
  • Dave 24th September 2011, 12:04 am

    No Re-Entry yet, it is currently around 150-160km. I believe that once it hits the 120km mark it will begin to decend more rapidly and it will be on that orbit when it Re-Enters and hits. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong as I am no expert.

  • Dave 24th September 2011, 12:11 am

    Also, here is the website I have been tracking it on: http://www.hobbyspace.com/SatWatching/SatTracking-BinarySpace/index.html

    Thought it may come in handy since the one all the news reports have been refering to (n2yo.com) is constanly coming up with a “Server too busy” message.

    Another handy one which gives the Re-Entry predictions but needs refreshing every now and then is:
    http://reentrynews.aero.org/1991063b.html

  • Mike 24th September 2011, 12:14 am

    Thanks Dave 🙂

    You’re right. At the time of writing, re-entry hasn’t occurred yet and although I had a camera going, it appears that I missed the satellite pass. I may have caught it on camera but I’m not too confident.

    There’s another site here that shows the live tracking of the satellite without need to refresh the page:

    http://www.spaceflightnow.com/uars/status.html

    All the best,

    Mike

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