UARS is now officially off track! T-minus impact on earth. Make a guess where it will land!

The site I'm using shows it over Columbia and an altitude of abt 157 km. Shouldn't this thing start to glow at about 140km?

updated reentry prediction

best twitter feed

reply to post by alexhor


nice, this thing will be off the coast from me soon, Cape Breton Nova Scotia

reply to post by Traxx


Maine here, but I think you'll have a better shot at seeing it than me. Especially with these overcast skies down here.

NASA released an unofficial statement that they have taken the following measures to ensure the safety of the United States and it's citizens: "...of course we have, right now as we speak we have sent our top man to divert the falling space junk into the Pacific Ocean, riding astride a Falcon 9 rocket. We owe Chuck Norris a great deal of gratitude for his obvious talents in dealing with these emergencies.."

Bah - so anyway...

1450 GMT (10:50 a.m. EDT)
The latest tracking of UARS shows the satellite's orbit has fallen to 100 miles by 105 miles (160 km by 170 km). The likely re-entry time period has shift later -- now late tonight or early tomorrow (Eastern Daylight Time).

"Solar activity is no longer the major factor in the satellite's rate of descent. The satellite's orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," NASA officials say.

"There is a low probability any debris that survives re-entry will land in the United States, but the possibility cannot be discounted because of this changing rate of descent. It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours."

www.stoff.pl...

And Heaven-above
www.heavens-above.com...

and Spaceflight Now
www.spaceflightnow.com...

All have it at the same place now just past South America
over Mid Atlantic

Last lowest orbit point at 11 to 12 degree was about 151.7 Km

Still can't get feed from Y20 and Info Sat

reply to post by DukeOfDorch


bit over cast here also but if it comes in i'll see it, I think we have some time yet never seen the 2 hour warning yet

I'm using [url=http://www.infosatellites.com/uars-satellite-tracking-norad-21701.html]http://www.infosatellites.com/uars-satellite-tracking-norad-21701.html[/ur l]

It is showing the altitude at about 156km and it actually seems top be climbing again. Slowly, but climbing....

My guess is, that it will ditch in the Pacific...possibly somewhere near Hawaii.

can't even go by trackers now, it is after slowing, who knows where it really is

satellite.tracks.free.fr...

here it is on 173 and climbing

So at a guess it is skimming the upper atmosphere much like the way a pebble can skim across water if thrown correctly? At this point, wouldn't it be starting to glow..? Will the fireball be accompanied by sonic booms..?

Thoughts?

yes but what was said in earlier post's they are not real time and just go by data entered into a computer

My bright object is stiil in the sky , moved more to the south now clouds have gone and it is at least 10 times brighter than any star. Unless UARS is making its decent which reports are saying it isn't then it cant be UARS as it as it would have gone out of view by now.

Well if it UARS it would have to be making its descent as it would have to have hit the atmosphere to be that bright!

Its still up there. Just got visual obs confirmation from Lincs at the time of the 23:33 pass, would have looked great on the exposure shots here if it wasn't for the damn pesky clouds.

Originally posted by DJOldskool
My bright object is stiil in the sky , moved more to the south now clouds have gone and it is at least 10 times brighter than any star. Unless UARS is making its decent which reports are saying it isn't then it cant be UARS as it as it would have gone out of view by now.

Well if it UARS it would have to be making its descent as it would have to have hit the atmosphere to be that bright!

That is Chuck Norris on the Falcon 9 getting ready to intercept UARS. Go Chuck !!!

reply to post by YourRequestIsDenied


lmao, where did I see the chuck norris bit before, one of the sites I was reading tonight.

Anyone else in the UK can see the unusually bright object prob SSE now?

Originally posted by DukeOfDorch
The site I'm using shows it over Columbia and an altitude of abt 157 km. Shouldn't this thing start to glow at about 140km?

No, the plasma glow of re-entry interface begins after the satellite passes through 400,000 feet (~75 miles). 400,000 feet is an arbitrary number, but it's what NASA used to define Entry Interface for the shuttle. Shuttle astronauts would begin to see plasma flashes around their windows within seconds of approaching EI. Here's a video from the flight deck of Columbia that attests to the timing: www.youtube.com...

reply to post by DJOldskool


I have just been outside and indeed in the southern part of the sky is a very bright object, I have no idea if it is the UARS but it really doesn't look like star.

Thankyou, I am not going mad and seeing things then. It is too bright to be a star and is not a plane. taken 2 hours to move from SE to S