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ZL2BAU > NASA 19.09.11 01:34l 62 Lines 2272 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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From: ZL2BAU@ZL2BAU.#79.NZL.OC
To : NASA@WW
Space Junk to Fall, But Don't Panic
By Christina DesMarais, PCWorld Sep 18, 2011 8:01 AM
Space junk is about to fall from the sky, but the odds that any of it will
land on you are remote.
NASA experts say a 6 1/2-ton defunct satellite will plummet to Earth around
September 23, a day earlier than previously expected.
Where it will fall is unknown, reports Space.com, which says that NASA expects
at least 26 large pieces of the bus-sized satellite to survive the scorching
temperatures of re-entry and reach the Earth's surface.
The debris is expected to fall over a 500-mile long area.
But thereâ€Ös no need to panic.
There is a 1-in-3200 chance of satellite debris hitting a person on the ground
odds that NASA says are extremely remote.
And some observers believe thereâ€Ös a good chance the debris will fall into the
ocean.
Still, those odds are much better than your chances of, say, getting struck by
lightning, which are 1 in 280,000. And even at that improbability, an average
of 1000 people get hit every year.
So wouldnâ€Öt you think space trash would land on lots of people? Especially
since the space around Earth is crowded with nearly 22,000 spent rocket
stages, dead or dying satellites and other orbital debris.
In fact, an average of one object has reentered Earth's atmosphere every day.
People have been hit, but considering the amount of junk falling from the
sky, youâ€Öd expect to see news reports about people getting clunked with it
all the time, wouldnâ€Öt you?
Even a penny dropped from the top of the Empire State Building would hurt,
though it is unlikely to kill you.
Thereâ€Ös an amusing video that shows a physicist running around trying to catch
pennies dropped from hundreds of feet in the air. He proves the idea that the
penny could be fatal is a myth.
The issue is the objectâ€Ös shape.
A pen, for example, is more aerodynamic than a penny and would travel at
hundreds of miles an hour. That could really hurt somebody.
A pennyâ€Ös descent, on the other hand, is slowed by air resistance.
As for the mystery of where the debris will land on Friday, nobody knows.
Still worried? You can watch a slide show at Space.com of the worst space
debris events of all time.
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