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 

Massive Power Outage Affecting Southwest U.S. Right Now

Just a quick note to let you all know that there is a massive power outage affecting the Southwestern U.S. right now. The outage began around 3:40 P.M. PT and is affecting all of San Diego County and parts of Orange County, eastern Riverside County, Imperial County, part of Arizona, Tijuana, Mexico down to Ensenada.

Here is western Riverside County where I am, we have power. I feel for those without power as it is still hot outside. My thermometer reads 98 degrees at 5:20 P.M., however, it did get up to 108 degrees earlier today. Read about the outage on San Diego Fox5 News... 

UPDATE 5:50PM: The loss of power led to a shutdown of two reactors at the San Onofre nuclear power plant, which is about 27 miles from my location! AHHHH! According to the Los Angeles Times, officials say power may be out until sometime late tomorrow evening.

On a side note, I feel even worse for those without power, NO OPENING DAY NFL FOOTBALL!! :-(  - (Green Bay up 7-0 midway through 1st Qtr.)

-RF

Discovering Unknown or Unlisted Active Frequencies

One of the exciting things about radio scanning is discovering unknown or unlisted frequencies that are being used in your area or near you.

For example, I was once visiting a Raging Waters Theme Park with my family and witnessed security officers racing through a crowd and out of sight. I quickly got my scanner out of my wife’s bag and turned it on.

I already had the security frequency programmed, but did not hear anything. After a few minutes of hearing nothing, I decided to conduct a frequency search and found an unlisted frequency being used by security. It turns out that they were responding to break up a fight between several teenagers.

As you can see, this is a handy feature to familiarize yourself with. Searching for frequencies can be done in two ways.

Preprogrammed Service Search

All modern scanners come with a feature called "Preprogrammed Service Search", indicated by the “SVC” or “Search” button. This feature is handy for finding unknown or unlisted frequencies being used near you.

The Preprogrammed Service Search allows you to search through a preprogrammed range of frequencies including; Police/Fire, Marine, CB, FRS/GMRS/MURS, Aircraft, HAM/Amateur Radio, and Weather.

These ranges cover frequencies for public safety, news media, TV broadcast audio, HAM/Amateur Radio, special low power radios, railroad, marine, and much more.

You can toggle search services on and off to focus on a certain range of interest or search all at one time. In marine or CB bands, you can search or manually select a channel.

In addition, some search services such as Police/Fire and HAM bands, may have several group ranges within them.

Using Limit Search

If you scanner does not come with a Preprogrammed Service Search function, almost all have a "Limit Search" where you can set the scanner to search between a "Low" and High" range of frequencies you choose.

Common Search Ranges

Below are common search ranges from Low to High that you can manually enter and search:

• 29.000 – 50.000 MHz       Gov't, business, two-way radio.
• 50.000 – 54.000 MHz       6-meter Amateur Radio
• 108.000 – 136.000 MHz   Aircraft
• 138.000 - 144.000 MHz   Government
• 144.000 - 148.000 MHz   2-meter Amateur Radio
• 160.110 - 161.565 MHz   Railroad Operations
• 150.000 - 174.000 MHz   Shared by Business, Maritime, Weather, & Public Safety
• 406.000 – 420.000 MHz   Government
• 420.000 – 450.000 MHz   Amateur Radio
• 450.000 – 470.000 MHz   Shared by Business, Industry, Government, & Public Safety
• 470.000 – 512.000 MHz   Public Safety
• 806.000 – 940.000 MHz  “800 Band” Public Safety
• 851.000 – 866.000 MHz   Business & Public Safety
• 866.000 – 869.000 MHz  Public Safety

Keep in mind that not all scanners can receive all the bands above. Refer to your scanner's manual for details on what your scanner can and can't receive. Need a manual? Check out my previous post "Where to Find Police Scanner User Manuals".

That's it for now! Till next time, stay safe and happy scanning!

-RF