Danger From Above: Satellite Crashing to Earth This Week!

NASA's UARS Satellite

Okay people, here we go, all eyes on the sky and ears on the scanner! There will be some interesting listening going on this week, possibly in your neck of the woods!

As you may have already heard, "UARS" (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite), a U.S. research satellite the size of a small bus, will make an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on Sept. 23, plus or minus one day. That puts the re-entry window between Thursday and Saturday of this week.

Danger from Above, An Uncontrolled Re-Entry

A NASA report states that approximately 26 potentially hazardous objects (pieces) of the satellite will survive the uncontrolled re-entry burn and make ground impact.

The debris field is estimated to be approx 500 miles long, and at this point and time, the impact zone cannot be determined until the satellite actually begins re-entry.

Current tracking projections place the potential impact zone (on Sept. 23) along the eastern U.S. coast.

NASA Population Risk Assessment

The NASA report further states that the estimated human casualty risk is 1 in 3,200 that one of the world’s 7 billion inhabitants will be struck. By comparison, the odds of being struck by lightning in the U.S. in any year (according to National Geographic) are 1 in 700,000.

1 in 3,200 is starting to not sound so good...

Monitoring Your Scanner

Monitoring the normal police and fire channels in your area would be the best bet. Once the impact zone has been determined, there will most likely be advisories put out over police and fire channels alerting public safety personnel about the estimated debris impact zone and debris recovery procedure.

This is my take on what you would most likely hear over the scanner if you are in the impact zone. This would be something similar to what was heard when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart on re-entry back in February 1, 2003.

That Space Shuttle Columbia event was unexpected so advisories on this event are a guesstimate on my part. You can hear the Space Shuttle Columbia Debris Advisory on page 3 of my recorded scanner audio page here.

About UARS (Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite)

The satellite was launched in 1991 by the Space Shuttle Discovery and was officially decommissioned on Dec. 14, 2005. It is 35 feet long, 15 feet in diameter, weighs 13,000 pounds, and carries 10 instruments. UARS orbits at an altitude of 375 miles with an orbital inclination of 57 degrees.

There are several more viewing opporunities for your area before it comes crashing down. Check out the UARS Satellite Tracking link below for viewing ops in your area.

Related Links of Interest:

• NASA: About UARS

• NASA UARS Real-time Satellite Tracking

• NASA UARS Risk Assessment (detailed pdf report)

• Facts About NASA’s Doomed UARS Satellite

This post will not be updated. For those of you on my mailing list, I will send out more information on the impact zone as soon as it is determined and if any further information warants.

If you are not on my (Police-Scanner.info and this blog's) mailing list, you can join here and never miss a site update or blog post.

That's it for now, till next time, stay safe and keep your eye on the sky above!

-RF