The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: EC on November 09, 2013, 11:36:29 am
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Via the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24879140
A one-tonne satellite is falling out of control and is likely to crash into the Earth sometime during the weekend, scientists have warned.
The Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer was launched in March 2009, to study changes in sea level, ocean circulation and the planet's gravitational field.
It has now run out of fuel and is spiralling back to Earth.
The European Space Agency says it cannot predict exactly where or when but that it is highly unlikely to cause any casualties.
Too short to excerpt.
"Don't Panic." How cheering. Sure, it is going slow enough to mostly burn up as it lands, but it is still 1 ton of metal aiming somewhere at us. That is going to leave a hole somewhere.
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Most of the Earth is water. Of the part that is not liquid, only a percentage of that is populated. Of the parts that are populated, only a very small percentage is densely populated, given farm land, forests, arenas, parks, and fields.
You have better odds in winning the lottery than getting hit by something falling from space. However, as Douglas Adams may say, the impossible has an integrity the merely improbable lacks. You never know. Always bring a towel, just in case. I have mine over my shoulder even as I write this.
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Well played!! :beer:
It could be a Volgon satellite. That would depend if it is reciting bad poetry.
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Update, fell in the ocean.
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23924553/heads-up-a-2000-pound-satellite-may-crash-in-your-backyard-sunday-night (http://www.myfoxny.com/story/23924553/heads-up-a-2000-pound-satellite-may-crash-in-your-backyard-sunday-night)