Uras Satellite falling to Earth

[Jordan]

A five tonne, 20-year-old satellite has fallen out of orbit and is expected to crash somewhere on Earth on or around 24 September, according to Nasa.

Nasa says the risk to life from the UARS -Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite - is just 1 in 3,200.

Hurtling at 5m (8km) per second, it could land anywhere between 57 degrees north and 57 degrees south of the equator - most of the populated world.

However, most of the satellite will break or burn up before reaching Earth.

Scientists have identified 26 separate pieces that could survive the fall through the earth's atmosphere, and debris could rain across an area 400-500km (250-310 miles) wide.

Nasa said scientists would only be able to make more accurate predictions about where the satellite might land two hours before it enters the Earth's atmosphere.

Re-entryThe 1 in 3,200 risk to public safety is higher than the 1 in 10,000 limit that Nasa aims for.

However, Nasa told reporters that nobody had ever been hurt by objects re-entering from space

Members of the public are not allowed to keep pieces of the satellite that may fall to Earth, or sell them on eBay, as they remain the property of the US government.

The UARS was launched in 1991 by the Discovery space shuttle, and was decommissioned in 2005.

The latest satellite re-entry is much smaller than Skylab, a satellite that re-entered the earth's atmosphere in 1979.

It was some 15 times heavier than the UARS, and when it crashed in Western Australia the US government was fined a $400 clean-up fee by the Australian government.

Sputnik 2 crashed on Earth in 1958, travelling from over New York to the Amazon in 10 minutes. It was viewed by many people and left a trail of brightly coloured sparks behind it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14952001

Going to be interesting I hope it doesn't actually hit something. Though chances are quite high!

[Mathew]

Read about this earlier. "it could land anywhere between 57 degrees north and 57 degrees south of the equator" - they're so precise!

[Stephen]

Love the you cant sell the parts that fall to earth on ebay bit

[Describe]

What ever happened to the finders keepers rule?

[Wig44.]

If I find a bit (which I doubt will happen) I'm keeping it. It's really arrogant of them to say that members of the public around the world are not allowed to touch debris hurtling from the sky when it is their fault to begin with. Obviously this doesn't extend to other property of the american government that might be in the UK but in this case it seems ridiculous.

[Ardemax]

Well this solar panel that fell thousands of miles from the sky went straight through my daughter and killed her instantly, better return it swiftly to avoid being prosecuted.

[Stephen!]

It's really arrogant of them to say that members of the public around the world are not allowed to touch debris hurtling from the sky when it is their fault to begin with.

Why?

If you accidentally kicked your football over the fence, you'd be pretty pissed off if they didn't give it you back.

[.:Wahu:.]

haha go the Auzzies, fining the US Government $400, that part made me laugh

[Bodon]

Love the you cant sell the parts that fall to earth on ebay bit

lolz, I like this.

[GommeInc]

Why?

If you accidentally kicked your football over the fence, you'd be pretty pissed off if they didn't give it you back.

I'd be inclined to keep a bit. The US would never know

Plus the football analogy doesn't quite work. Imagine the football was kicked up into space from an American back garden, and poor decision making meant it would fall straight down into a back garden in the UK with the possibilites of damaging parts of your garden or even hitting you and doing serious damage - losing the football is probably the least of their worries. They'd be pissed, but it's their fault for losing the ball in the wrong place and not apologising or being the least bit sympathetic.