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| Topic: Dead German Satellite Will Fall to Earth This Week The exac | |
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A defunct German satellite is expected to plunge to Earth this week, but exactly when and where the satellite will fall remains a mystery.
The massive German Roentgen Satellite , or ROSAT, is expected to plummet to Earth on Saturday or Sunday (Oct. 22 or 23), though Germanspace officials have also offered a wider re-entry window of between Oct. 21 and Oct. 25. This latest falling satellite comes about a month after a dead NASA climate satellite, called the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), plunged into the Pacific Ocean in late September. The 2.4-ton X-ray space observatory is expected to break up as it travels through Earth's atmosphere, but some large pieces will likely make it through the intense heat of re-entry. According to German aerospace officials, approximately 1.6 tons ofsatellite debris , consisting primarily of upto 30 large glass and ceramic fragments, could survive the journey through the atmosphere and reach the Earth's surface. "We don't expect big parts to re-enter, except the mirror and the glass and ceramic parts," Jan Woerner, head of the executive board of the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Germany's space agency, told SPACE.com."Usually during re-entry, you have rather clear burning of all the elements, but glass and ceramics may survive andmay come down in bigger pieces." There is a 1-in-2.000 chance a piece of ROSAT could strike someone on Earth, DLR officials have said. That's a slightly higher risk than the 1-in-3,200 chance of a debris hit NASA gave for the UARS satellite fall. German aerospace officials are actively tracking ROSAT, but they will not be able to determine precisely when and where the satellite will fall until roughly two hours before it impacts Earth. ROSAT's orbit extends from the latitudes of 53 degrees north and south,which essentially covers ahuge swath of the planet.This means the satellite could fall anywhere stretching from Canada to South America. Officials at Germany's space agency calculated a1-in-2,000 chance that someone on Earth will behit by ROSAT debris, but the risk of serious injury from such an event remains extremely remote. Originally, the dead satellite was projected to fall to Earth in November,but refined estimates show that the spacecraft will likely make its fiery descent through the atmosphere later this week — earlier than mission controllers previously thought. [ 6 Biggest Uncontrolled Spacecraft Falls From Space ] "With satellites like ROSAT, you depend on external circumstances," Woerner said. "For instance, solar wind and changes in the atmosphere may change the time of re-entry. We just have to wait and observe." ROSAT was launched in June 1990 as a joint venture between Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In 1998, the satellite's star tracker failed, which caused its onboard camera to be directly pointed at the sun. This permanently damaged the spacecraft, and ROSAT was officially decommissioned in February 1999. Since the satellite does not have a propulsion system, and there is no fuel left onboard, the satellite will make an uncontrolled return to Earth. "We expect public attention because it's a satellite coming down, but in history, we have had much bigger debris fall," Woerner said. |
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A defunct German satellite is expected to plunge to Earth this week, but exactly when and where the satellite will fall remains a mystery. The massive German Roentgen Satellite , or ROSAT, is expected to plummet to Earth on Saturday or Sunday (Oct. 22 or 23), though Germanspace officials have also offered a wider re-entry window of between Oct. 21 and Oct. 25. This latest falling satellite comes about a month after a dead NASA climate satellite, called the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), plunged into the Pacific Ocean in late September. The 2.4-ton X-ray space observatory is expected to break up as it travels through Earth's atmosphere, but some large pieces will likely make it through the intense heat of re-entry. According to German aerospace officials, approximately 1.6 tons ofsatellite debris , consisting primarily of upto 30 large glass and ceramic fragments, could survive the journey through the atmosphere and reach the Earth's surface. "We don't expect big parts to re-enter, except the mirror and the glass and ceramic parts," Jan Woerner, head of the executive board of the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Germany's space agency, told SPACE.com."Usually during re-entry, you have rather clear burning of all the elements, but glass and ceramics may survive andmay come down in bigger pieces." There is a 1-in-2.000 chance a piece of ROSAT could strike someone on Earth, DLR officials have said. That's a slightly higher risk than the 1-in-3,200 chance of a debris hit NASA gave for the UARS satellite fall. German aerospace officials are actively tracking ROSAT, but they will not be able to determine precisely when and where the satellite will fall until roughly two hours before it impacts Earth. ROSAT's orbit extends from the latitudes of 53 degrees north and south,which essentially covers ahuge swath of the planet.This means the satellite could fall anywhere stretching from Canada to South America. Officials at Germany's space agency calculated a1-in-2,000 chance that someone on Earth will behit by ROSAT debris, but the risk of serious injury from such an event remains extremely remote. Originally, the dead satellite was projected to fall to Earth in November,but refined estimates show that the spacecraft will likely make its fiery descent through the atmosphere later this week — earlier than mission controllers previously thought. [ 6 Biggest Uncontrolled Spacecraft Falls From Space ] "With satellites like ROSAT, you depend on external circumstances," Woerner said. "For instance, solar wind and changes in the atmosphere may change the time of re-entry. We just have to wait and observe." ROSAT was launched in June 1990 as a joint venture between Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In 1998, the satellite's star tracker failed, which caused its onboard camera to be directly pointed at the sun. This permanently damaged the spacecraft, and ROSAT was officially decommissioned in February 1999. Since the satellite does not have a propulsion system, and there is no fuel left onboard, the satellite will make an uncontrolled return to Earth. "We expect public attention because it's a satellite coming down, but in history, we have had much bigger debris fall," Woerner said. |
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if the satellite doesn't have a propulsion system, why do they note there is no fuel on board?
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they are saying Sunday now... i hope it lands in my backyard...
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I remember when skylab fell out of orbit, it seems everyone had some sort of sign on their property that said .....SKYLAB X RIGHT HERE!
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if the satellite doesn't have a propulsion system, why do they note there is no fuel on board? Not all of their readers know what the word 'propulsion' means? |
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Everything you wanted to know about de-orbiting satellites.
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http://www.esa.int/gsp/completed/EOL_Study-N13_ExecSum_final.pdf
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An old German satellite plunged to Earth Saturday after languishing in a dead orbit for more than a decade, but officials do not yet know where it fell.
The 2.7-ton Roentgen Satellite, or ROSAT , slammed into Earth's atmosphere sometime between 9:45 p.m. EDT (0145 GMT Sunday) and 10:15 p.m. EDT (0215 GMT Sunday), according to officials at the German Aerospace Center. "There is currently no confirmation if pieces of debris have reached Earth's surface," German aerospace officials said ina statement. |
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44992707/ns/technology_and_science-space/
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