Second giant chunk of space junk heading for Earth

Source

A defunct German space telescope is set to collide with Earth less than five weeks after a satellite the size of a bus hits the planet.


The 2.4-ton Röntgensatellit, or ROSAT, has been spinning aimlessly through space for 12 years after it was switched off in 1999 after its guidance system broke.

With its orbit bringing it inexorably closer to Earth, the authorities initially thought it would burn up entirely on re-entry.

However, it is now believed that pieces of space junk weighing up to 400kg could smash into the planet's surface as early as the end of October.

And experts warned that ROSAT would not be the last to hit because solar activity next year is likely to damage far more ageing spacecraft and send them plummeting to Earth.

Jesus, is it just me or is this becoming a common occurrence? Why all of a sudden are these satellites falling to Earth? Why are they not disintegrating in our atmosphere?

I just find it funny that we had URAS and now all of a sudden, 'oh, here's another' and the ending part of my quote that more are likely to be coming in the next bit.

Sounds like there's a conspiracy here....

Any thoughts?

Pred...

why because stuff is always coming back.....they say its normal for once a year something of fair size to UARS comes back to earth it happens....what happens when you throw so much garbage up their and then when they lose power and connection....gravity takes over because it can no longer keep itself on its path by adjusting. so this is normal nothing new...

Agreed.

Yet, at the same time these satellites have been up there for a while and are "old" and have been
destined to fall for a while now. Of course, just like earthquakes, once you notice that they're
being reported more so now than in the past, it's more than likely that this has been a normal
occurrence for this "space junk" to fall to Earth, just never reported as it is now.

It's just a "flavor of the month" type deal.