Satellite freefall from space in Sept. 2011

Dark Knight

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A dead 6-ton satellite is getting closer and closer, and is expected to smack down on Earth on Friday.


NASA's old research satellite is expected to come crashing down through the atmosphere Friday afternoon, Eastern Time. The spacecraft will not be passing over North America then, the space agency said in a statement Wednesday evening.


The predictions should become more precise by Thursday afternoon and certainly by Friday.


http://news.yahoo.com/satellite-still-friday-freefall-space-204328506.html

This brings back memories of Skylab for me, which I am just barely old enough to remember!
 
From the way I read the article, they are expecting it to fall in the water just because the majority of the world is covered in water. Not much reassurance.

If pieces of the satellite end up falling on another country and killing people, what will happen?

Why couldn't they design the satellite so that it could be remotely exploded or burned up in space when it is no longer useful?
 
I think the odds are 1 in 3200 that someone on earth will by struck by this satellite -- is that statistically different than the odds of ANYONE on earth being struck by lightning? I mean, is there a greater than 1 in 3200 chance that one person on earth will be struck by lightning today? I am really bad with statistics so this is a serious question.

eta: and I am going to take a stab at answering this: according to Wikipedia, about 24,000 people per year are struck by lightning, or on average, about 65 people per day. So there is a very large chance that someone will be struck by lightning tomorrow, a much greater than 1/3200 chance that SOMEONE will be struck by lightning tomorrow. (The chance that the SOMEONE will be YOU, is the 1/280,000 number).
 
NASA is anticipating a splashdown rather than a landing. Nearly three-quarters of the world is covered with water. The Aerospace Corporation in California, in fact, predicts that re-entry will occur over the Pacific late Friday afternoon, Eastern Time. But that's give or take 14 hours.

From DK's link ... BBM .. Give or take 14 HOURS? That's 1/2 a day!
 
With all the explanation, statistics and reassurance that I am seeing, I am reading panic, fear, hope and prayers by the NASA authorities. It's like they are telling themselves that no it couldn't hit anywhere dangerous, no it couldn't harm anyone. But deep down inside that is exactly what they fear.
 
With all the explanation, statistics and reassurance that I am seeing, I am reading panic, fear, hope and prayers by the NASA authorities. It's like they are telling themselves that no it couldn't hit anywhere dangerous, no it couldn't harm anyone. But deep down inside that is exactly what they fear.

Why aren't these massive objects equipped with a self-destruct option so they can at least be broken into smaller chunks more easily burned up in the atmosphere? Also, if I remember correctly, didn't they have a satellite or something come crashing down in the middle of Australia years and years ago?
 
Why aren't these massive objects equipped with a self-destruct option so they can at least be broken into smaller chunks more easily burned up in the atmosphere? Also, if I remember correctly, didn't they have a satellite or something come crashing down in the middle of Australia years and years ago?

Yes, several years ago, in the outback. It was a 300lb piece, if I remember right.
 
Yes, several years ago, in the outback. It was a 300lb piece, if I remember right.

Erm, no, it was 1979 when Skylab crashed into Western Australia. Being pre-internet, it is not as widely known, but I remember it vividly on account of the fact that I was in WA at the time and it was big, big news. The Aussies not being too fond of being NASA's trash dump. Seems, from what I am hearing, that this big satellite may be headed for Western Australia or the gorgeous ocean to the west of Western Australia.

Note to NASA: just because Australia is mostly empty and mostly friendly, doesn't give you the "okay" to crash-land your junk there. :maddening:

eta: I am seeing elsewhere that the junk is probably going to land in the Pacific Ocean, which is not directly west of Western Australia, lol
 
Why aren't these massive objects equipped with a self-destruct option so they can at least be broken into smaller chunks more easily burned up in the atmosphere? Also, if I remember correctly, didn't they have a satellite or something come crashing down in the middle of Australia years and years ago?

This made me think of HAARP.. This is exactly the scenerio described by an expert that I listened to one night on C2Cam with George Nooray. He was discussing HAARP's ability to shoot stuff down before it hits the earth.. hmm
 
Well, darn.

If it were coming over North America, I'd try to get a piece of it and sell it.

I need the money. LOL.
 
Well, darn.

If it were coming over North America, I'd try to get a piece of it and sell it.

I need the money. LOL.

Yes, trying to figure the odds that a nice hunk of it will fall in my back yard and I can sell it on eBay.
 
With my luck it wouldn't land in my backyard. It would probably land smack dab in my living room.
 
I read about this yesterday and while I was at the bus stop it came on the news again. Well when I got home as I was making coffee my house starts to shake, and its getting loud, my thoughts are screaming OMG this is it, its coming straight down on us, I start placing my hands out searching for a wall, whew wait just the garbage truck doing 50 on my small dirt road. Every week this garbage truck does this and I still react the same way but usually with earthquakes in mind. Other than that I am pretty interested in this topic :)
 
[video=youtube;yOe5leAfFE0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOe5leAfFE0[/video]
 
You have to understand where I live. It's near what many call the new Area51. All kinds of weird happenings out here. ETA: On second thought, a satellite crashing out here would probably be a normal night!

Genesis space capsule crashes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5942268/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/genesis-space-capsule-crashes/

Meteor rumored to have crashed at Dugway Proving grounds or somewhere in the West Desert.
http://youtu.be/hJFejgd9bSE

2000 employees locked down for 10 hours while Dugway searched for missing nerve agent
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/51134945-76/dugway-vial-agent-thursday.html.csp

Fake UFO over Tooele
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/866941/UFO-is-trash-bags-with-glow-sticks.html

Dugway sheep incident
removed link as it embedded yucky pic. Google will find this.
 
26 different smaller pieces are falling-sounds better than one huge one the size of a bus-no?:waitasec:
[video=youtube;EGm0iErQPWE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGm0iErQPWE[/video]
 

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