It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Now, its interesting how these dates coincide with some of the more "out there" prophecies such as Harold Camping's "Rescheduled Rapture" and the "ELEninoids" TEOTWAWKI event, or the "Solar EMP".
Given the propensity towards overreaction that we have seen as of late, is it too far out there to think this might be a cover up of some other "minor" event such as a meteor shower that the extreme tin foil hatters may see as a trumpet of the end times?
I, for one, believe only half of what I hear; and KNOW as a writer that all written work was done to convince someONE else of someTHING else... So, chime in - Is this a simple preventative "sleight of hand" to keep peeps from widespread panic over a normal occurence? or is it the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Im sure there will be those that believe it is more sinister as well...
That's an interesting question. It may be a statute of limitations issue since the launch happened so long ago. De-orbiting or graveyard orbiting satellites in a controlled manner has been a more recent mission requirement especially for communications satellites falling under FCC requirements, but early satellites were launched apparently without too much planning for where they would fall from the sky when they de-orbited:
Originally posted by thegoods724
I wonder if the space dubree kills someone, will nasa be head liable?
I guess you'd have to be pretty unlucky to get hit by a falling piece of a satellite that didn't fully burn up on re-entry, but I suppose it could happen.
Historically, due to budgetary constraints at the beginning of satellite missions, satellites were rarely designed to be de-orbited. One example of this practice is the satellite Vanguard 1. Launched in 1958, Vanguard 1, the 4th manmade satellite put in Geocentric orbit, was still in orbit as of August 2009.[17] Instead of being de-orbited, most satellites are either left in their current orbit or moved to a graveyard orbit.[18] As of 2002, the FCC now requires all geostationary satellites to commit to moving to a graveyard orbit at the end of their operational life prior to launch.
NASA has been watching the 6-ton satellite closely. On Friday officials moved up their prediction for its arrival to Sept. 23, give or take a day. NASA scientists have calculated the satellite will break into 26 pieces as it gets closer to Earth. The odds of it hitting someone anywhere on the planet are 1 in 3,200.
The heaviest piece to hit the ground will be about 350 pounds, but no one has ever been hit by falling space junk in the past. The satellite could scatter debris over 500 miles NASA expects to give the public more detailed information early next week. For now, all continents except Antarctica could be hit by satellite debris.