Boner Blog

September 22, 2011

A Falling Satellite Catches the Popular Imagination

Filed under: Uncategorized — bonerguide @ 2:35 pm

The odds that a falling satellite will kill you on Friday are probably zero — but maybe not quite.

The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite seen during its deployment in 1991.
 
A dead hulk of a NASA satellite the size of a bus is skimming the top of the atmosphere, and as air molecules bounce off, its orbit is decaying until gravity will finally pull it down as a fiery meteor.
 
To be specific, 26 large pieces of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, the heaviest about 330 pounds, are expected to survive all the way and hit the surface. The debris will stretch along a 500-mile path.
 
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