The NASA Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is
now expected to crash on Friday 23 September (image by NASA)
NASA employees are now holding their breath as the 6.6 ton (6
tonne) out-of-control Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)
is falling faster than previously expected. Yesterday, NASA
announced that the decommissioned satellite is most likely to
crash into the earth's surface on Friday 23 September ... give
or take a day.
UARS will come crashing back to Earth after it was placed
into orbit almost twenty years ago. Although the spacecraft will
break into pieces during re-entry, not all of it will burn up in
the atmosphere beforehand. It is anticipated that 26 large
fragments of the UARS satellite will actually fall to Earth, in
a rain of debris altogether weighing about 1,170 pounds/532 kg
(the largest weighing 300 pounds/150 kg). More information is
available in our
original article.
NASA has yet to release any further information about the
predicted landing zones, but if it happens to fall close to a
populated area, the viewing should be spectacular. Sky watchers
have best chance of seeing the falling debris during dusk or
dawn, and to the naked eye it should appear like a falling star.
You can follow updates on the falling UARS on the
NASA website.
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