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Kevin_M

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20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Sep 22^nd, 2011 at 3:11pm

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BOSTON -- While NASA officials are still unsure exactly where a 6.5-ton decommissioned satellite will fall to Earth on Friday, it will not be in North America, the agency said Thursday. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, which ceased scientific operations in 2005, is now expected to fall from orbit during the afternoon of Sept. 23, Eastern Daylight Time. The spacecraft will not be passing over North America at that time. NASA has said that the spacecraft could leave a trail of debris about 500 miles long. About 26 pieces of the craft are capable of surviving re-entry, with some weighing up to roughly 300 lbs.

Excitable at space.com:

Quote:

If you happened to be lucky enough to be within viewing range of a satellite that is re-entering the atmosphere, the sight, put simply, would amount to a short-lived but spectacular fireworks display. Unlike a fireball meteor, whose flight across the sky might take no more than a few seconds, a re-entering satellite’s path usually lasts much longer.

Editor's note: If you snap a photo or observe the re-entry of NASA's UARS satellite and want to share it with SPACE.com for a story or gallery, contact managing editor Tariq Malik at: tmalik@space.com.

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"Wow, that's far out, aren't we lucky!" {{CLUNK}}

close encounters

Very slight odds of contact mentioned.

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« Last Edit: Sep 22^nd, 2011 at 3:13pm by Kevin_M »

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Racer1_NC

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #1 - Sep 22^nd, 2011 at 4:56pm

If you'd like to follow the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite in it's last day......
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And if you can get on this site.....
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“We see what we believe, not the other way around." — Varga

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Charlie CH.com Alumnus Offline Happy to be here Posts: 18971 Jamestown, NY Gender:	Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X Reply #2 - Sep 22^nd, 2011 at 5:51pm The last time I heard, it's supposed to be crashing somewhere east of the Philippines in the Pacific. That was last night of course. Charlie
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Mike NZ

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #3 - Sep 23^rd, 2011 at 1:43am

There are some passes over Auckland, NZ around the right timeframe.

Search period start: 00:00 Friday, 23 September, 2011
Search period end: 01:00 Monday, 3 October, 2011
Observer's location: Auckland, 36.8670°S, 174.7670°E
Local time zone: New Zealand Standard Time (UTC + 12:00)
Orbit: 173 x 183 km, 56.9° (Epoch Sep 22)

Type of passes to include: Visible only All

Date Mag Starts Max. altitude Ends
Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az. Time Alt. Az.
23 Sep 3.8 07:20:29 10 NE 07:20:45 10 ENE 07:21:01 10 ENE
23 Sep 2.9 16:31:23 10 WSW 16:32:44 19 NW 16:34:04 10 N
24 Sep 1.0 08:15:00 10 W 08:15:57 14 SW 08:16:54 10 S
24 Sep -1.9 15:44:53 10 WSW 15:45:06 20 NW 15:45:17 10 N

I've more chances of winning the lottery than being hit by a bit of it!

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Kevin_M

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #4 - Sep 23^rd, 2011 at 3:36am

Mike NZ wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2011 at 1:43am:

I've more chances of winning the lottery than being hit by a bit of it!

Yeah that's pretty clear. I chuckled at the thought of being "lucky" to be at the place on the globe with a nice light show overhead, while also being under the area the pieces would fall.

"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."

That turned out entertaining. Wink

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Kevin_M

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #5 - Sep 23^rd, 2011 at 2:05pm

Quote:

BOSTON -- NASA said early Friday that it now believes some debris from a 6.5-ton decommissioned weather satellite could hit the U.S. when it falls to earth either late Friday or early Saturday. "The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," said NASA in a statement.

Chekov Sir, we've about 400 people on this ship, what happens to all the garbage?

Kirk That's on a don't ask, don't tell basis, but we... expel it.

Scotty Aye, we've got a shitload of it ready to go, captain.

Spock Coming in range now of a blue planet. Earth-like atmosphere, it should burn up on entry.

Kirk Open bay doors, Scotty, and shove the shit.

Scotty Finally, I can get rid of that old engine I replaced.

Spock That... might not fully burn up. It's 4000 parts will break apart, spreading debris over a vast area. Fabulous light flashes though.

Kirk Ready warp speed. Drive away fast, Mr. Sulu.

Sulu Too late sir, they've tracked our license plate number. Patrol ships are pursuing us.

Chekov Leave it to me, sir. Daddy made bootleg vodka and I drove. I'll lose 'em.

Scotty Ah no. I left some bottles of me good Scotch hidden in that old engine.

Spock Mr. Scott, what new engine?

Scotty We ran out of dilithium crystals long ago, Mr. Spock. I converted her to burn that moonshine Chekov calls liquor.

Chekov It's got the kick for warp speed, sir.

Scotty It's rockgut, and I'll still drink your puny @ss under the table.

Kirk Screw you and your Scotch too, Scotty. Let's go! Yeoman, grab a couple bottles of Kentucky bourbon from my quarters.

Chekov, Scotty I'm in!

Kirk Spock, take over.

Spock I'm still computing the trajectory of descent for all this garbage. Nine hundred empty liquor bottles makes it complicated.

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Kevin_M

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #6 - Sep 24^th, 2011 at 7:33am

It may be that Canada got a crater-full of lucky.

So far, this morning...

Quote:

Debris reports in Canada from 6.5-ton UARS satellite

UARS penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. There are unsubstantiated reports of debris falling in western Canada.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 24, 5 AM CDT (10 UTC)

The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California says the bus-sized Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) satellite plunged to Earth late Friday night (early Saturday in the eastern U.S. time zone, Europe and Africa).

There are unsubstantiated reports of debris falling over Okotoks, a town 20 miles (30 km) south of Calgary in western Canada. Locals in Okotoks are reporting the discovery of wreckage, including a large piece that left a substantial crater and a possible debris field extending to the northeast of there. There is also a video on YouTube supposedly showing falling debris. I’m not sure I believe the video is real, which makes me question the other reports, but time will tell.

NASA says UARS re-entry took place between 10:23 p.m. CDT September 23 and 12:09 a.m. CDT September 24 (3:23-5:09 UTC September 24). The satellite penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. NASA is working now to substantiate reports of falling debris.

UARS was 35 feet long and 15 feet wide (about 12 by 5 meters). It was among the largest spacecraft to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and make an uncontrolled descent, although it was much smaller than NASA’s 85-ton Skylab, which fell in 1979.

Russia’s last space station, Mir, was even heavier at 150 tons. It made a guided descent in 2001 and also crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

According to Reuters, NASA now plans for the controlled re-entry of large spacecraft, but it did not when UARS was designed.

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« Last Edit: Sep 24^th, 2011 at 7:43am by Kevin_M »

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Kevin_M

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #7 - Sep 24^th, 2011 at 8:16am

Still yet

Quote:

...after the satellite's demise, it was still occasionally hard to separate the truth from the fakery. There were multiple reports of fireballs and bright debris being sighted over Canada, but one of those reports turned out to be a "War of the Worlds" prank ...

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Mike NZ CH.com Hall of Famer Offline Oxygen rocks! D3 too! Posts: 3785 Auckland, New Zealand Gender:	Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X Reply #8 - Sep 24^th, 2011 at 6:06pm Next we'll have reports of black helicopters, conspiracy theories and the CIA denying it (so it must be true)...
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Kevin_M CH.com Sponsor Offline withered branches grow green again. Posts: 8754 Michigan, USA Gender:	Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X Reply #9 - Sep 24^th, 2011 at 7:44pm Mike NZ wrote on Sep 24^th, 2011 at 6:06pm: Next we'll have reports of black helicopters, conspiracy theories and the CIA denying it (so it must be true)... It never really fell, just used as a cover to land aliens on the planet. and the like
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Mike NZ

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Oxygen rocks! D3 too!

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #10 - Sep 28^th, 2011 at 4:47am

Mike NZ wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2011 at 1:43am:

There are some passes over Auckland, NZ around the right timeframe.

And it did pass right over NZ, almost overhead from where I live after it hit the atmosphere and started it's way to impact the ocean.

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NZ is at the bottom right of the map, right under the flight path.

I never saw anything, but then I'm not too upset that it missed us.

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Kevin_M

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Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X
Reply #11 - Sep 28^th, 2011 at 7:33am

In 2008, there was a contribution to this site made by members betting whether the navy would hit it on first try. They did.

We didn't bet on the China military. Wink

Quote:

What Happens When Satellites Fall

...the U.S. military launched a missile from the Pacific Ocean that obliterated the spy satellite USA 193. The missile destroyed the satellite, which was plunging to Earth with a full tank of toxic hydrazine fuel, on Feb. 20, 2008.

Other satellite shootdowns have not been so tidy. When China blasted an aging weather satellite to bits in a 2007 anti-satellite test, the explosion generated a cloud of orbital debris and sparked widespread criticism from other nations.

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There is liability if debri hits a country.

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Space Liability Convention

Skylab crashed in Western Australia the following year, and while there were no deaths, injuries, or significant damage, the shire of Esperance, did fine the Government of the United States $400 for littering as a result of Skylab's crashing to earth over Australia. NASA never paid the debt, but in 2008, a California DJ collected donations from listeners and sent a check to the Shire of Esperance

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Some debri's been toxic.

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Kosmos 954

The USSR claimed that the satellite had been completely destroyed during re-entry.

...

Debris from the satellite was deposited on Canadian territory, including portions of the Northwest Territories (some of which is now Nunavut), Alberta and Saskatchewan, on a 600-kilometre (370 mi) path from Great Slave Lake to Baker Lake. In an attempt to recover radioactive material, a search was conducted covering a total of 124,000 square kilometres (48,000 sq mi).

Subsequent recovery efforts, named Operation Morning Light, by a joint Canadian-American team swept the area by foot and air in Phase I from January 24, 1978 to April 20, 1978 and Phase II from April 21, 1978 to October 15, 1978. They were ultimately able to recover 12 larger pieces of the satellite.

All but two fragments recovered were radioactive. These pieces displayed radioactivity of up to 1.1 sieverts per hour, yet they only comprised an estimated 1% of the fuel. "One fragment had the (lethal) radiation of 500 R/h, which is 100 times higher than the maximum annual [per-person] radiation level of 5 rem." For these recovery efforts, the Canadian government billed the Soviet Union $6,041,174.70 for actual expenses and additional compensation for future unpredicted expenses; the U.S.S.R. eventually paid the sum of three million Canadian dollars.

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Mike NZ wrote on Sep 28^th, 2011 at 4:47am:

... it did pass right over NZ, almost overhead from where I live after it hit the atmosphere and started it's way to impact the ocean.

If a piece would have landed in your backyard, Mike, maybe we could help with the littering fine.

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Potter CH.com Alumnus Offline Team MOOSE DROOL Stinky Stuff on a Hook Prostaff Posts: 3600 Blgs.Mt. Gender:	Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X Reply #12 - Sep 28^th, 2011 at 9:03am I got a bunch of old junk in the boneyard. I'm gonna clean it up some, call it space junk and sell it on Ebay. Potter
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Charlie CH.com Alumnus Offline Happy to be here Posts: 18971 Jamestown, NY Gender:	Re: 20 yr tour, flashy finale - site X Reply #13 - Sep 28^th, 2011 at 5:10pm How about a "space junk gap" debate? We need something like this to occupy the dick wavers in D. C. Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to or Charlie
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