Falling German Satellite May Crash into Earth this Weekend
Excited about this upcoming weekend? You may have a change of heart.
Pieces of the retired German satellite, ROSAT launched in 1990 are expected to crash into Earth this weekend.
The retired satellite is hurtling toward the Earth’s atmosphere and may crash on Saturday or Sunday, the German Aerospace Center said Thursday.
As it comes closer towards Earth’s atmosphere, scientists will be able to estimate the impact within a window of about 10 hours. With a dark sky, observers will be able to spot it as it gradually falls towards Earth.
Parts of the minivan sized satellite will burn up as it hurtles through its re-entry onto earth, but up to 30 fragments weighing about 1.7 tons could crash into our planet with a speed of up to 280 mph. The fragments consist of large glass and ceramic.
The possibility of the debris hitting an individual is highly unlikely.
As the satellite orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, scientist can’t exactly predict where the burning fragments will hit but they can say it could hit anywhere between 53-degrees north and 53-degree south, which means the satellite could fall anywhere from Canada to South America.
Luckily Earth’s surface is composed of mostly ocean floors and a large number of huge empty landmasses. The fragments, if they survive the push through Earth’s ozone layer are likely to hit one of these surrounding areas.
There is a 1-in-2,000 chance a piece of ROSAT could strike someone on Earth, Germany’s space agency told Space.com.
ROSAT, short for Röntgensatellit, is derived from the German word, Röntgenstrahlen, which means X-ray. It was launched in 1990 to help researchers investigate black holes and neutron stars. ROSAT performed the very first sky survey for X-ray sources with an imaging telescope.
The satellite was expected to only be active for 18 months but its great scientific success kept it going for more than eight years beyond that. ROSAT retired in 1999 when all communications were lost.
Now, scientists are working on developing new technology to prevent earth crashes. The new technology would destroy or capture satellites in space.
It will take many years for that technology to be implemented, the German Aerospace Center said.