will make a fiery death plunge this week, with some pieces of the 6
1/2 ton spacecraft expected to reach the surface of the planet, NASA
officials say.
The bus-size Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, will likely
plummet down to Earth sometime around Friday (Sept. 23), according to
NASA's latest projections. There is a 1-in-3,200 chance that UARS
debris could hit a person, though NASA considers that scenario
extremely remote.
"Re-entry is expected Sept. 23, plus or minus a day," NASA officials
wrote in an update posted Sunday (Sept. 18). That means that by
Saturday (Sept. 24), the UARS satellite should slam into Earth's
atmosphere and break apart
The space agency's space debris experts predict that at least 26 large
pieces of the satellite will survive the scorching temperatures of
atmospheric re-entry. But exactly where the UARS satellite debris will
fall is uncertain.
NASA officials have said that the drop zone for UARS satellite debris
could be anywhere between the latitudes of northern Canada and
southern South America, an area that includes much of the planet.
The satellite should re-enter over a 500-mile (804-kilometer) track,
according to NASA officials. Since 75 percent of Earth is covered with
ocean, there is a high likelihood that the satellite will re-enter
over the sea or a remote, uninhabited stretch of land, Victoria
Samson, the Washington Office Director of the Secure World Foundation,
an organization dedicated to the peaceful use of outer space, told
SPACE.com last week.
See attached for best times and details to catch a glimpse in Vanuatu.
Terms
Altitude is how high up you look. It is measured in degrees. Looking
straight out along the ground to the horizon the altitude is 0
degrees. The setting Sun is 0 degrees altitude. Looking straight up is
90 degrees. Half way up is 45 degrees. And so on.
Azimuth is which way you face when you look. It is also measured in
degrees. There are 360 degrees in a full circle, for all the
directions all around you that you could look. North is azimuth 0, and
azimuth increases in a clockwise direction, so East is azimuth 90,
South 180, and West 270.
When you shake your head up/down as yes, its altitude. when you shake
your head left/right as no, its azimuth. Both are measured in degrees.
Looking at the horizon, the altitude is 0 degrees, Straight up is 90.
Straight down is -90. Looking true north the azimuth is 0 degrees,
east is 90, south is 180, west is 270.
