NASA Says Don't Worry About Falling Satellite

[Albino Boo]

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.

I'm old enough to remember the first landing on Mars, though not quite Telstar age.

Is that still up there?

I think Telstar is still up there, I know it was up high but not as far out as the modern comms satellite. I seam to remember that it got the electronics taken out a by nuclear test back when they did them on the surface. It may have been the huge 50 megaton one the Soviets let off in the 60s.


Space exploration is bad these days. When I was growing up I had the Viking landings on Mars, the Voyager probes and the Russians landings probes on Venus. There as nothing like it now, its a real missed opportunity to inspire future generations of going into science.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Haha, what are the chances it's gonna land on m

 

[Sion_Barzahd]

Screw the american authorities, if i find a piece of the damned debris i'm loading it into my pick up and keeping the bugger.

Maybe i'll put it on Ebay in the near future...

 

[The Lugz]

Hm, not only would i touch it i'd pick it up carry it home and mount it on a plinth so i could sell it on ebay as a priceless piece of space faring history

and so would anyone else

what i really want to see is a piece of satellite land on the nasa building, just because they think it wont survive

it would be as good as this:
http://www.dump.com/2011/09/03/runaway-tire-falls-into-the-right-place-video/

 

[B4DD]

This is how American's play Russian Roulette.

 

[FateOrFatality]

This is how American's play Russian Roulette.

I would play this game. I would show that satellite who is in charge around here, and then I would forge myself a suit of armour out of the super hot, radioactive space metal and declare myself King of Space.

...What were we talking about again?

OT: Like I said above, I assume the reason they say not to touch the satellite is because it would be radioactive, right? Assuming it's cooled down by then. Or have I just watched too many sci-fi movies?

 

[Sansha]

If I find a piece of that satellite, I will take it, lock it up in the most secure place I can think of and auction off that *****.

 

[Sunrider]

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.

I wonder if something grand like that will ever happen in my lifetime. Why we aren't focusing more on space is beyond my understanding.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Don't panic?
Check.
Towel?
Check.

All set.

 

[DefinitelyPsychotic]

Snip

while i agree...im just gonna say this...you just bashed an escapist news guy...you have a 90% chance of banning :C

Yeah, because "Escapist News Guys" (and for that matter, any Escapist contributors) are so special and are never allowed to be criticized.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it too much. The satellite has a much greater chance of crashing into the ocean rather than on land.

 

[Clonekiller]

Well, I've seen some cynical writing in my time, but this one takes the cake. It's probably not a good thing if you can replace the word "satellite" with "giant asteroid" and still have a mostly cohesive story.

Course, we don't have any space shuttles anymore, so even if this satellite was going to crash in the middle of New York city, we couldn't do anything about it.

 

[Aptspire]

Well, it was nice knowing you all.

Also, telling people to not touch something from space is just going to encourage them to go looking for said debris.

Unless...this is all part of their master plan.

they'd have had more luck using reverse psychology and say "all right, everyone should try and touch the satellite pieces! Definitely NOT emitting radiations!"

 

[artanis_neravar]

(And I full well assume a certain Faux Noise will get on that regardless)

Ok this has been bothering me for awhile, you people do realize that faux isn't pronounced "fox" right? It is pronounced "fou" with the normal f sound and a long O

 

[McMullen]

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?

Many, if not most, satellites are in orbits that the shuttle can't reach. Also, the shuttle program has been cancelled.

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Must be nice to not actually have to invest any effort in your articles. I wish I could get away with just making BS up and going with my first impression of a subject. I could put all the time taken up by research and fact-checking into Civ IV instead.

 

[McMullen]

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.

Fuck that shit. If I find a piece of space debris, it's fucking mine.

You should read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goiânia_accident#Theft_of_the_source

And then consider that satellites are sometimes powered by radioactive heat sources. It's less likely with earth-orbiting satellites, but it can happen. More often they'll contain some other hazardous material.

Even though it's fashionable these days to suspect everything a government agency says, NASA's warnings, like those of the National Weather Service, are intended to advise you on how best to not get harmed or killed.

 

[Trivun]

I'm certainly not going to worry about this. Because around 70% of the planet is water. And then a sizeable amount of the landmass is currently uninhabited (parts of the rainforests, the Sahara Desert, wide swathes of the North and South Poles...). So the chances of it hitting anywhere densely populated are already fairly slim anyway. From a purely logical point of view, I agree with NASA. There is almost nothing to worry about here.

 

[Pinkamena]

The reason there is no danger, is that it would completely disintegrate and burn up when it touches the atmosphere.
Escapist, please stop the implied "we are going to die"-stuff in your science articles...

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

Well, it was nice knowing you all.

Also, telling people to not touch something from space is just going to encourage them to go looking for said debris.

Unless...this is all part of their master plan.

they'd have had more luck using reverse psychology and say "all right, everyone should try and touch the satellite pieces! Definitely NOT emitting radiations!"

but that sounds fishy, by letting people know up front that there's radiation, people might think that they're being lied to, and there is in fact no radiation to be afraid of.

 

[Robomega]

Wait wait, I've seen this movie. A small rural town gets wiped out by a supervirus and Michael Douglas almost sets off a nuke.