Showing posts with label Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite. Show all posts

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The UARS Has Fallen Back To Earth

It seems the dreaded satellite no longer needed  by NASA has fallen to the Earth. 


I awoke in the middle of the night a few nights ago to a humming in the sky and my first thought was this research satellite (as BIG as a bus) was heading towards my yard.  Then I remembered I was a day early in my thoughts and figured then it must have just been an alien saucer landing and leaving a fresh supply of mosquitoes.  I would deal with that later in the morning and fell back to sleep.


People were worried sick about the landing location of this mass and I have to admit I may have been more concerned if  I had seen Chicken Little being interviewed on CNN.


You can  remove your hard hats now.  You can walk into the street and your own backyards.  It's not here. 


And I must admit that if I had known about this 14 years ago I had forgotten it.  That's why I don't work for NASA.  I would have forgotten about it........besides what did we learn about chemicals in atmosphere?


Here's a release from NASA that's pretty interesting.......  Read it and find out exactly where "the bus" did land...........

NASA's UARS Re-Enters Earth's Atmosphere

WASHINGTON – NASA’s decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) fell back to Earth between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 23 and 1:09 a.m. Sept. 24, 20 years and nine days after its launch on a 14-year mission that produced some of the first long-term records of chemicals in the atmosphere.


The precise re-entry time and location of debris impacts have not been determined. During the re-entry period, the satellite passed from the east coast of Africa over the Indian Ocean, then the Pacific Ocean, then across northern Canada, then across the northern Atlantic Ocean, to a point over West Africa. The vast majority of the orbital transit was over water, with some flight over northern Canada and West Africa.


Six years after the end of its productive scientific life, UARS broke into pieces during re-entry, and most of it up burned in the atmosphere. Data indicates the satellite likely broke apart and landed in the Pacific Ocean far off the U.S. coast. Twenty-six satellite components, weighing a total of about 1,200 pounds, could have survived the fiery re-entry and reach the surface of Earth. However, NASA is not aware of any reports of injury or property damage.


The Operations Center for JFCC-Space, the Joint Functional Component Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., which works around the clock detecting, identifying and tracking all man-made objects in Earth orbit, tracked the movements of UARS through the satellite’s final orbits and provided confirmation of re-entry.

“We extend our appreciation to the Joint Space Operations Center for monitoring UARS not only this past week but also throughout its entire 20 years on orbit,” said Nick Johnson, NASA’s chief scientist for orbital debris, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “This was not an easy re-entry to predict because of the natural forces acting on the satellite as its orbit decayed. Space-faring nations around the world also were monitoring the satellite’s descent in the last two hours and all the predictions were well within the range estimated by JSpOC.”


UARS was launched Sept. 12, 1991, aboard space shuttle mission STS-48 and deployed on Sept. 15, 1991. It was the first multi-instrumented satellite to observe numerous chemical components of the atmosphere for better understanding of photochemistry. UARS data marked the beginning of many long-term records for key chemicals in the atmosphere. The satellite also provided key data on the amount of light that comes from the sun at ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. UARS ceased its scientific life in 2005.


Because of the satellite's orbit, any surviving components of UARS should have landed within a zone between 57 degrees north latitude and 57 degrees south latitude. It is impossible to pinpoint just where in that zone the debris landed, but NASA estimates the debris footprint to be about 500 miles long.


For more information about UARS, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Sky Is Falling.............???

Defunct NASA Satellite To Crash To Earth This Week

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A defunct NASA science satellite is expected to fall back to Earth on Friday, showering debris somewhere on the planet although scientists cannot predict exactly where, officials said.


The 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, was carried into orbit during a space shuttle mission in 1991. It operated for 14 years, collecting measurements of ozone and other chemicals in the atmosphere.


Since completing its mission in 2005, UARS has been slowly losing altitude, tugged by Earth's gravity. On Friday, the 35-foot-long, 15-foot diameter (10.6-metres long, 4.5-metres diameter) satellite is expected to plunge into the atmosphere, NASA reported on its website


While most of the spacecraft will be incinerated, scientists expect up to 26 pieces, with a combined mass of about 1,100 pounds (500 kg) to survive the fiery re-entry and fall down somewhere on Earth.


The satellite's orbit passes over most of the planet, from as far north as northern Canada to the southern part of South America.


NASA said the chance a piece of UARS debris will strike a person is about one in 3,200. The debris will mostly likely fall into an ocean or land in an uninhabited region of Earth.


Satellites as large as UARS re-enter Earth's atmosphere about once a year.


NASA said there have been no reports of any deaths or injuries to people from falling debris.


The largest chunk of wreckage from UARS is expected to be about 331 pounds (151 kg), says Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist of NASA's Orbital Debris Program office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.


As of Sunday, UARS was in a 133-mile by 149-mile (215-km by 240-km) high orbit around Earth. Re-entry is expected some time on Friday, although it could happen as early as Thursday or as late as Saturday.


The agency is posting updates on its website,  http://www.nasa.gov/uars.

Source;  http://www.wtkr.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-space-debris-nasatre78i5ge-20110919,0,5888967.story