We’re really gonna need them to be a little better at this. For the second time in as many months, there’s a satellite in Earth’s atmosphere. And this time, not only do the rocket scientists at NASA not know where the debris is going to hit , they don’t know when the satellite even got here. Scientists were trying to establish how and where a defunct German research satellite returned to the Earth Sunday, after warning that some parts might survive re-entry and crash at up to 280 mph (450 kph). There was no immediate solid evidence to determine above which continent or country the ROSAT scientific research satellite entered the atmosphere, said Andreas Schuetz, spokesman for the German Aerospace Center. Most parts of the minivan-sized satellite were expected to burn up, but up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could have crashed. The center said the satellite entered the atmosphere between 0145 and 0215 GMT Sunday (9:45 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Saturday EDT) and would have taken only 10 or 15 minutes to hit the ground. Schuetz said it could take days to determine exactly where pieces of the satellite had fallen, but that the agency had not received any reports that it had hit any populated areas. “I don’t think that we’ll have a confirmation of any sort today,” he said, pointing out that it also took NASA several days to establish where one of its satellites had hit last month. For real? How long has our space program been running? Source
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Another Day, Another Falling Satellite Threatens Earth… And NASA Is Clueless Again
