News UARS about to fall from the sky

[n0mad23]

Three minutes out from southwestern Morocco. It does indeed look like it'll be the last pass over Africa.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

Still flying, over Africa now.

Or maybe not. Where are they getting their data?

 

[MattBaker]

Maybe someone in South Africa will spot UARS in a few minutes, or STRATCOM says "Sorry guys, we fell asleep, it's down"

But i think a deorbit would have been visible from Hawaii...

People in Edmonton should have seen a "Firework-like"-thing and there are reports about UARS in Northern Quebec

 

[Foxtrot1]

UARS debris over oklahoma 100 miles from me

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6wW2ChL_-E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6wW2ChL_-E[/ame]

not the whole thing but pieces breaking off

 

[Kyle]

Are you sure that's UARS?

 

[Thunder Chicken]

UARS wasn't over Oklahoma last orbit. Those must have been the aliens making the crop circles in the hay fields.:lol:

 

[Kyle]

UARS wasn't over Oklahoma last orbit. Those must have been the aliens making the crop circles in the hay fields.:lol:

That's correct.. whatever what was posted, it certainly wasn't UARS. Perhaps it was a formation of planes? I don't know, maybe someone could post a better explanation.

 

[Foxtrot1]

I didn't say it was from last orbit that video is from earlier of pieces breaking off.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

That's correct.. whatever what was posted, it certainly wasn't UARS. Perhaps it was a formation of planes? I don't know, maybe someone could post a better explanation.

It was a stray reflection of swamp gas off a wayward weather balloon. Happens a lot in Oklahoma.

 

[Kyle]

Reports in that UARS is indeed down, awaiting official word.

RT @SPACEFLIGHT101: Indications are that UARS is down following its last perigee. Waiting for official words. #UARS

Unconfirmed reports that the breakup occurred over Canada, around the time UARS would have passed over them.

 

[MattBaker]

Firework in Edmonton, Reports about going down in Northern Quebec, no visible pass in South Africa

So, UARS decided to have a little hockey game with maple syrup und french-speaking Americans!

So, the world can search two crash sites, Progress and UARS

Aussies watching the nightsky, if they can't spot anything (it should break up somewhere there, so it should be clearly visible) it's 99% confirmed that UARS is in Canada

 

[Thunder Chicken]

My bet is N. Canada. Current elements put periapsis on that side of the orbit, and by kurtosis arguments it is hanging out longer at higher latitudes.

That's my guess and I'm sticking to it, unless I'm wrong. :lol:

Called it!!...maybe?

 

[T.Neo]

Firework in Edmonton, Reports about going down in Northern Quebec, no visible pass in South Africa

Where I am at least, it is totally overcast. I wouldn't spot UARS if I tried.

 

[MattBaker]

Where I am at least, it is totally overcast. I wouldn't spot UARS if I tried.

Mossel Bay between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth is said as the location of the no-sightings

How can STRATCOM coordinate a Global Strike with nuclear weapons if they can't track a satellite over North America/Canada?

We're still waiting for #UARS Done! confirmation. If debris fell on land (and that's still a BIG if), Canada is most likely area.

(NASA twitter)

Confirmed debris falling over okotoks, Alberta. Canada.

(Twitter/SpaceTrails) Okotoks is a small town (17.000) 18 km (11 miles) south of Calgary, Alberta.

 

[Urwumpe]

How can STRATCOM coordinate a Global Strike with nuclear weapons if they can't track a satellite over North America/Canada?

Satellites are no nuclear warheads. Satellites have very chaotic aerodynamics, the aerodynamics change a lot during reentry and they come in a very shallow angle, which makes predictions even harder.

Even if you just tracked and measured its route, a few seconds outside your radar fan, it can look completely different. And a lot of tracking time is lost because you first of all need to identify the satellite after entering your sensor range. Usually satellites behave well and arrive RIGHT where you expect them. Reentering satellites don't. They appear as one of many unidentified tracks that every space tracking radar sees at a time.

 

[N_Molson]

From SpaceFlight Now :

0755 GMT (3:55 a.m. EDT)

According to a NASA spokesman, Air Force space-tracking specialists report UARS entered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. However, the precise time and locale aren't yet known.

0720 GMT (3:20 a.m. EDT)

RE-ENTRY CONFIRMED. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, launched from the shuttle Discovery in 1991 to begin a new era of studying the Earth's environment from space, has fallen from orbit.

But NASA still doesn't know exactly when or where the re-entry happened.

"NASA's decommissioned Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite fell back to Earth between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 23 and 1:09 a.m. EDT Sept. 24. The satellite was passing eastward over Canada and Africa as well as vast portions of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans during that period. The precise re-entry time and location are not yet known with certainty," the space agency says.

Natural processes caused the large spacecraft's orbital altitude to gradually lower over time, finally tumbling into the atmosphere today where it burned up. It had spent 7,316 days in space.

NASA expected 26 fragments of the satellite would survive the superhot re-entry and hit the ground, such as titanium fuel tanks, antenna structures and beryllium brackets. The combined mass of the pieces was predicted to be 1,173 pounds (532 kg).

Authorities urge anyone finding the satellite pieces to avoid touching the objects and contact local officials.

I hope it didn't entered over Northern Canada. A seal could harm itself crawling over a debris with sharp edges.

Well, one less.

 

[Ghostrider]

Any reports of disturbances, sudden outbreaks of violence or loss of communication in the affected areas?

 

[Notebook]

No, just the usual zombies, guess it missed Scunthorpe.

N.

 

[Spacethingy]

:thumbsdown: Booooo, I wanted a bit of satellite shrapnel to collect! :lol:

 

[MattBaker]

1820 GMT (2:20 p.m. EDT)
Nick Johnson, chief scientist with NASA's Orbital Debris Program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, says the space agency has received "no credible" reports of observers seeing the UARS re-entry. Officials think the satellite most likely fell into atmosphere over the open Pacific Ocean around 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT) and the surviving debris would have landed in the sea before reaching North America.

(Spaceflight Now)

So, it's somewhere in the Pacific.
If the last orbit was the one, were NASA stated, that UARS is maybe down, it would have reached Washington a little bit south of Seattle at roughly 22 PM local time.
And because there are no confirmed debris in Washington, UARS was already down at this time.
(This thoughts are all based on the hope, that NASA says everything they know about the reentry, maybe they don't want to confirm debris in Washington, Canada etc.)