Tuesday, April 8, 2025

September 21, 2011

This Week’s Weather Report: Falling Satellites

Remember that defunct NASA satellite that was going to fall to earth some time, they just couldn't tell us when or where? Well, don't worry - they've told us that it's definitely going to come screaming down to the planet's surface some time this week. This Friday, actually.

Remember that defunct NASA satellite that was going to fall to earth some time, they just couldn’t tell us when or where? Well, don’t worry – they’ve told us that it’s definitely going to come screaming down to the planet’s surface some time this week. This Friday, actually.

This is the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) that we’re talking about – NASA’s defunct, 60 000 kilogram baby, of which at least 26 pieces can be expected to survive re-entry into the atmosphere in solid form. The upside: NASA says there’s a one-in-3 200 chance of the debris hitting anybody.

NASA aren’t clear yet on where this guy’s gonna drop, but officials indicated that it would be somewhere between the latitudes of northern Canada and southern South America. Which is to say, they are definitely sure that it will be landing somewhere on the planet.

Wear a hat on Friday.

[Source: ET]