Nasa refines satellite crash time

K

ksher

Veteran
 Bedfordshire
I'm going to stay inside my house tomorrow evening. The US space agency says the risk to life from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is 1 in 3,200. But winning the lotto jackpot is 1 in 13,983,816 or approximately 1 in 14 million, and people win it every week. The chance of being hit by the satellite is actually quite high. :rofl:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15021323
 
Unless your house is bomb proof I don't think it would offer much shelter coming down at 124mph or what ever terminal velocity speed is.
 
The whole satellite should be broken down into much smaller pieces when it re-enters the atmosphere.
 
To ensure I won't be splatted, I'm going to make sure that there are fewer than 3,199 other people around me tomorrow night, then I can't be the one!
 
1 in 3,200
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haha brilliant - when I next consent a patient for a spinal anaesthetic and can say that they are over 62 times more likely to be hit by a satellite than have long term problems from the spinal :rofl:
 
srhutch said:
Unless your house is bomb proof I don't think it would offer much shelter coming down at 124mph or what ever terminal velocity speed is.
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the last skydive I did, I came through an ice cloud @ 124mph so I know what it's like to come down at that speed :o :o

(oh and btw it hurt like fcuk and I came out white with frost :thumbsdown: )
 
[youtube]98DHFIkHaec[/youtube]

DrNick said:
haha brilliant - when I next consent a patient for a spinal anaesthetic and can say that they are over 62 times more likely to be hit by a satellite than have long term problems from the spinal :rofl:
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:lol: :thumbsup:

i dont get why they can't give more of an estimate to where it's going to land, surely they could predict it to within a few thousand miles
NASA said:
Update #9 - Fri, 23 Sep 2011 03:01:35 AM GMT
As of 9:30 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 110 mi by 115 mi (175 km by 185 km). Re-entry is possible sometime during the afternoon or early evening of Sept. 23, Eastern Daylight Time. The satellite will not be passing over North America during that time period. It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any more certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 24 hours.
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One of the analysts at work commented:

"The one in 3,200 chance is the chance that one person is hit by falling debris. Overall, the probability that you (as an individual) will get hit is around 1 in a trillion."

Not sure if I agree..... :tumbleweed:
 
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