You are hereArchive - Sep 26, 2011
Archive - Sep 26, 2011
Defunct UARS is the largest NASA satellite to make uncontrolled fall back to earth in years; dangers of orbital space debris...
The junk in low Earth orbit: space pollution and rising hazard from debris
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NASA: 'We May Never Know' Whereabouts of Satellite Debris
NASA scientists are still not sure exactly where pieces of a huge, defunct satellite landed after re-entering Earth's atmosphere this morning, but early evidence suggests that the debris landed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, which could complicate recovery efforts.
During a Saturday afternoon conference call with reporters, Nicholas Johnson, chief orbital debris scientist for NASA, acknowledged that "we may never know" the whereabouts of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS).
Data from the Department of Defense's Joint Space Operations Center (JSOC) indicate that UARS fell to the Earth sometime between 11:23pm Eastern Friday night and 1:09am Saturday morning. At that point, the satellite passed over Canada, the African continent, and the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. The mid-point of that path, and likely point of entry, according to those calculations, is off the West Coast of the U.S., as indicated by the green circle on a map published by NASA. read more »
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