NASA Says Don't Worry About Falling Satellite

[Mudze]

The reason they don't want you to touch it is because it will give you radiation poisoning. Seriously, if you see it, back right the hell away and inform the police.

 

[the spud]

It really probably won't be much of a problem. It is extremely unlikely that it will hit somewhere populated. We can at least hope it hits somewhere that nobody really likes or cares about (like Idaho, Texas, Quebec, or New Jersey).

 

[Arcanist]

Nothing to worry about guys. It's just 6.5 ton piece of metal falling from the sky. That never hurt anyone.


Never you mind things like Project Thor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetic_bombardment].

Yes, kinectic bombardment is essentially dropping things from space, like what's going to happen to this satellite.

Kinetic projectiles don't fall at terminal velocity. Satellites do.

There's also the fact that, being reinforced chunks of galvanized steel, kinetic projectiles are explicitly designed to survive the heat and force of re-entering the earth's atmosphere, whereas satellites are not.

To give you an idea of just how hot re-entry can get, imagine a gas-powered blowtorch. Triple that, on every surface of the satellite. It'll crumple and and burn well before it hits anything.

And six tons? *****, please. There are asteroids an order of magnitude more massive than that which are reduced to the size of a pebble by the time they reach the surface.

 

[Reaper195]

*looks out the window and up at the sky*

....don't care what anyone says, I'm gonna be looking up until that fucker falls from the sky.

 

[Averant]

TL;DR: Greg Tito, you should be fired. And then your name, aliases, and picture should be spread far and wide to all news outlets such that you never contribute another article this blatantly misleading and/or stupid.

Dude, seriously. The tone of this post was a joke. Sorry you missed the obvious.

Greg

Eeeeh... it's hard to tell if he's trolling or not. I can see where he's coming from if he's actually serious (a few more one-liners in there might help), but even if he IS serious, he must have a major stick up his ass if he's been on here long enough to not recognize humor that's present in virtually every single article in the escapist.

No offense, Jaime. Except, you know, take offense. You've got a stick up your ass. I'd advise pulling it out.

 

[crystalsnow]

Because they can't predict what kind of effect, if any, wind will have on it. I'm sure they know where it'll fall if there is no interference from the wind, but factor in the weather conditions of where the satellite passes and nobody will know what'll happen until it actually happens.

Unless the satellite is going through 3 different thunderstorms, wind will be an insignificant factor. These guys could at LEAST get an estimate accurate to within 100 miles easy.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

It's an imperfect world. Satellites fall down all the time. Or at least that's what NASA wants you to believe

Not like it really matters, because a 6 ton satellite falling on your head isn't a problem or anything.

This takes the level of terrible writing and ridiculous spin that's become the norm on the Escapist news stories to an entirely new level.

Satellites don't fall because it's an imperfect world (what the fuck does that even mean?), satellites fall because they're put into orbits where we know they'll fall before we even put them there in the first place. This isn't some strange accident, it's a normal, completely predictable occurrence.

And "that's what NASA wants you to believe"? Are you fucking kidding me? I barely even know how to respond to how asinine that sounds. Satellites fall all the time. Often, you can see them falling. You can see records of the countless satellites that have fallen. You can see the projected dates of when a lot of satellites will fall.

The second quote really drives home the lengths contributors are willing to go to to drive interest in an article. I'm assuming here that it's an attempt at baiting for pageviews since the alternative, that the contributor is actually that ignorant about a topic he's reporting on, is not a possibility I really wish to entertain.

The reality of the situation: they can make a relatively strong prediction about where it will land (protip: this is not a "simple physics calculation" based on its trajectory since the real world involves messy things like aerodynamics and we're talking about speeds and distances where a small change can have a big impact on the location of the crash site), the overwhelming majority of it will fall apart and burn up in atmosphere (which is the most immediate reason, though not the only reason by any means, why the second quote is so absolutely absurd), there has never been a recorded instance of falling space debris causing any serious damage, the chance of the debris hitting property or people is already absurdly low even if it didn't fall apart and burn up in atmosphere, they can make very robust predictions about when it will land (projections were surely made before the satellite was even sent up), and no, there isn't really any reasonable solution to letting satellites crash (the cost of bringing a satellite back during a shuttle mission would outstrip the gain in recycling the parts by several orders of magnitude).

TL;DR: Greg Tito, you should be fired. And then your name, aliases, and picture should be spread far and wide to all news outlets such that you never contribute another article this blatantly misleading and/or stupid.

holy jesus, you do realize this is light hearted sarcastic humor in the post? by no means was it supposed to be hardcore facts meant to be set as the truth and nothing but the truth.

I generally hate making sweeping claims, but fuck dude, pull that space ship sized pole out of your ass and calm down, it as an article, on the escapist, which isn't known for the most groundbreaking serious fact stories on the planet.

 

[PinkiePyro]

everything probably will be fine last time I heard about space crap falling it landed in the ocan I remember it because taco bell put a target out in the predicted area and said if it hit the target there would be free tacos ...
(sadly there were no free tacos )

so my only question is will there be free tacos with this one?


also I finally got a redictuluois captcha

 

[Dogstile]

TL;DR: Greg Tito, you should be fired. And then your name, aliases, and picture should be spread far and wide to all news outlets such that you never contribute another article this blatantly misleading and/or stupid.

Dude, seriously. The tone of this post was a joke. Sorry you missed the obvious.

Greg

To be honest, it wasn't that clear. I had to read it a couple of times thinking "what the hell" before I realised myself.

OT:

First person to get a piece should take pictures with it and post them to the escapist.

 

[Hungry Donner]

Major Kong would like to learn more about this.

I'm old enough to remember Skylab coming back down, now that was something to worry about. The thing weighed 77 tons. So pah 6.5 tons I sneeze in your general direction.

And they felt there was a real risk of it hitting an inhabited region.

 

[samsonguy920]

Hopefully it lands somewhere where either government agencies can respond faster than civilians, or that the civilians in the vicinity leave the thing alone. Might be a good time to encourage people to see The Andromeda Strain [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/]. The 1971 one linked, not the more recent one.

NASA really needs some kind of recycling program. They track where the satellites are after their "missions" are over, why couldn't a shuttle nab it on its way back so they could strip it for parts?

Unfortunately not cost effective right now, nor are there any "shuttles" in service to do the job. This would be one main reason the Hubble Telescope will be sent down to burn up in the atmosphere when it reaches its end of service. I'm still clueless why the ISS is going to be deorbited.

 

[dancinginfernal]

I suppose getting hit by a space satellite would be better than getting hit by a space toilet seat.

Cookie for whoever gets the reference.

 

[sharkinz]

I am not to worried. The guys at NASA are kinda bright. That and there is a lot of land that isn't populated.

 

[Erana]

WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME THIS?

I wasn't worried before. This is like walking up to someone and say, "Hey, don't worry, I'm not going to shoot you."

I suppose getting hit by a space satellite would be better than getting hit by a space toilet seat.

Cookie for whoever gets the reference.

Moist

 

[Irridium]

Because they can't predict what kind of effect, if any, wind will have on it. I'm sure they know where it'll fall if there is no interference from the wind, but factor in the weather conditions of where the satellite passes and nobody will know what'll happen until it actually happens.

Unless the satellite is going through 3 different thunderstorms, wind will be an insignificant factor. These guys could at LEAST get an estimate accurate to within 100 miles easy.

It is significant. Satellites aren't the most aerodynamic objects, and as a result wind could play a very significant factor. It will get pushed around.

And besides, I'm sure they know the general area of impact. And whether it's a general area or more specific area, chances are they're not revealing it because then it would most likely attract onlookers, who then could possibly be injured.

 

[Aprilgold]

Well, if it lands near me, I am taking pictures of it, THEN asking for the police, FUCK SOCIETY, ME GOT SOMETHING TO PUT ON MY WALL, NOW!

 

[Agiel7]

Why don't we just do to it what we Americans do best: Blowing it up?

Not like we haven't done it before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Missile_3#Anti-satellite

 

[Anarchemitis]

Because then it would turn one big partly-difficult-to-predict bit of space junk into thousands of tiny, faster, nigh-impossible-to-predict bits of space junk.

Movies are wrong. Blowing things up is not always the answer.

 

[FalloutJack]

Okay, show of hands.

Also, NASA said if you do find a piece of metal or debris that just might be a part of the massive UARS satellite, you should under no circumstances touch the object. Call your local law enforcement precinct and an agent, er, friendly neighborhood police officer will come round to quarantine the area and impound your wife and pets.

But again, there's nothing to freak out about here. Everything will be fine.

Show of hands here: WHO HERE HAS SEEN OR READ THE MICHAEL CRITCHTON CLASSIC, "THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN"?

There's always just a teeny-tiny room for worry here, especially if they tell you not to touch it.

 

[Logic 0]

I'm betting who ever gets near it will get powers and become a super villain.