You may think that with all the extreme weather that the country has seen this year, enough is enough already! But something else extreme is going to fall from the sky this week, and no, it's not weather related. A 12,500-pound NASA satellite called the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will succumb to the Earth's gravity this week and crash to the surface of our planet sometime between Thursday and Saturday, so keep your head up...the satellite is about the size of a school bus.
NASA doesn't have an exact estimate for when this massive piece of space junk will crash to the surface, nor do they know precisely where it will land. Officials with NASA say that current estimates project that the satellite could crash land anywhere between 57 degrees north latitude and 57 degrees south latitude, which is pretty much anywhere on the planet, including all of the United States and Canada, all the way southward into the South American continent. And since the satellite has to re-enter the atmosphere, it will likely burn up and is expected to break into about 100 pieces, with about 26 of those making it to the surface in a potential debris field about 500 miles long! The largest chunk is expected to weigh about 300 pounds.
NASA officials are expected to refine their estimate of timing and location as the moment of impact gets closer and says that when the satellite is about two hours away from hitting the planet, they will still have a margin of error of 25 minutes.
So should you be watching the sky all day fearing you will be hit on the head? Well, not so fast! The odds of one person in the entire human population being struck and killed by UARS debris are 1 in 3,200.
The biggest piece of space junk to hit the Earth in over 30 years is expected to create quite a light show as it partially burns up during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, and scientists say fireballs could even be visible during the day. Oh, and if you find a piece of the debris, don't plan on keeping it. It belongs to the United States government and you should contact your proper authories and turn it over immediately.
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