WASHINGTON (AP) - The dead NASA satellite fell into what could be the perfect place - part of the South Pacific, about as far from large land masses that you can get, the leaders of the American space said Tuesday.
New group of U.S. air calculations to 6 tons (5.4 metric tons) the death of thousands of satellites falling early Saturday of kilometers (miles) northwest of North America, where there were reported sightings. Instead, he dives in remote islands developed a vast ocean.
NASA said the new calculations show the 20-year satellite entered the atmosphere of the Earth in general, American Samoa. But falling debris as he broke not start hitting the water for another 300 miles (480 km) north-east, south-west of Christmas Island, just after midnight EDT Saturday.
Experts believe that about two dozen metal bus-sized satellite fell from more than 500 miles (800 km) span.
"This is a relatively uninhabited world, far away," orbital debris at NASA scientist Mark Matney said. "This is certainly a good place in terms of risk."
Scientists who follow space debris could not be happier with the result.
"That's the way it should be. I think it's perfect, "said Bill Ailor, director of the Center for Studies and orbital debris back at Aerospace Corp." It's just as good as it gets. "
On Saturday, investigators said, were some of the songs would have been able to achieve in the north-west Canada, and supports the results in Canada to spread on the Internet. But NASA said Tuesday that the new calculations show that landed a few minutes earlier than they thought, changing the debris field in a completely different hemisphere.
"It just shows you the difference that 10 or 15 minutes can do," says Harvard University astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, following human space objects. Saturday, he noted: "We talked, 'Wow, he hit Seattle? "
NASA will not say how he knows climate research satellite came before, referring questions to Air Force Space Operations Center. Air Force spokeswoman Julie Horn said Ziege improved reconstruction of the computer model after the satellite has fallen helped pinpoint where the satellite - satellite called the upper atmosphere research back to Earth - Return to Earth
After UARS was launched in 1991, NASA and other space agencies adopted new procedures to reduce space debris and satellites fall to earth. So NASA satellites is not as great as that fall to Earth without control in the next 25 years, according to the NASA orbital debris chief scientist Nicholas Johnson.
But the other satellites will continue to decline. End of October or early November, a German astronomy satellite is set to plunge back to Earth in an uncontrollable. Although slightly smaller than the UARS, the German satellite is expected to survive a return to more pieces, says McDowell, who worked for one of the instruments of it.
The German satellite ROSAT was launched in 1990, died in 1998, and weighs 2 and a half tons (1.8 tons). The German Space Agency figures, 30 pieces, weighing less than 2 tons survive to return. Debris can be sharp shards of a mirror.
The German Space Agency put the odds of someone, somewhere on Earth happens to one of its satellites-in-2,000 - slightly higher than the level of risk was calculated by the NASA satellite. But the chances of success are one of a 1-in-14 trillion dollars, because there are seven billion people on this planet.
New group of U.S. air calculations to 6 tons (5.4 metric tons) the death of thousands of satellites falling early Saturday of kilometers (miles) northwest of North America, where there were reported sightings. Instead, he dives in remote islands developed a vast ocean.
NASA said the new calculations show the 20-year satellite entered the atmosphere of the Earth in general, American Samoa. But falling debris as he broke not start hitting the water for another 300 miles (480 km) north-east, south-west of Christmas Island, just after midnight EDT Saturday.
Experts believe that about two dozen metal bus-sized satellite fell from more than 500 miles (800 km) span.
"This is a relatively uninhabited world, far away," orbital debris at NASA scientist Mark Matney said. "This is certainly a good place in terms of risk."
Scientists who follow space debris could not be happier with the result.
"That's the way it should be. I think it's perfect, "said Bill Ailor, director of the Center for Studies and orbital debris back at Aerospace Corp." It's just as good as it gets. "
On Saturday, investigators said, were some of the songs would have been able to achieve in the north-west Canada, and supports the results in Canada to spread on the Internet. But NASA said Tuesday that the new calculations show that landed a few minutes earlier than they thought, changing the debris field in a completely different hemisphere.
"It just shows you the difference that 10 or 15 minutes can do," says Harvard University astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, following human space objects. Saturday, he noted: "We talked, 'Wow, he hit Seattle? "
NASA will not say how he knows climate research satellite came before, referring questions to Air Force Space Operations Center. Air Force spokeswoman Julie Horn said Ziege improved reconstruction of the computer model after the satellite has fallen helped pinpoint where the satellite - satellite called the upper atmosphere research back to Earth - Return to Earth
After UARS was launched in 1991, NASA and other space agencies adopted new procedures to reduce space debris and satellites fall to earth. So NASA satellites is not as great as that fall to Earth without control in the next 25 years, according to the NASA orbital debris chief scientist Nicholas Johnson.
But the other satellites will continue to decline. End of October or early November, a German astronomy satellite is set to plunge back to Earth in an uncontrollable. Although slightly smaller than the UARS, the German satellite is expected to survive a return to more pieces, says McDowell, who worked for one of the instruments of it.
The German satellite ROSAT was launched in 1990, died in 1998, and weighs 2 and a half tons (1.8 tons). The German Space Agency figures, 30 pieces, weighing less than 2 tons survive to return. Debris can be sharp shards of a mirror.
The German Space Agency put the odds of someone, somewhere on Earth happens to one of its satellites-in-2,000 - slightly higher than the level of risk was calculated by the NASA satellite. But the chances of success are one of a 1-in-14 trillion dollars, because there are seven billion people on this planet.
Online:
NASA's UARS site: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/uars/index.html
The German space agency on ROSAT: http://bit.ly/papMAA
