Scientist: Satellite must have crashed into Asia

[n2doc]

By JUERGEN BAETZ, Associated Press

Sunday, October 23, 2011

(10-23) 12:15 PDT BERLIN, Germany (AP) --

A defunct German research satellite crashed into the Earth somewhere in Southeast Asia on Sunday, a U.S. scientist said — but no one is still quite sure where.

Most parts of the minivan-sized ROSAT research satellite were expected to burn up as they hit the atmosphere at speeds up to 280 mph (450 kph), but up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could have crashed, the German Aerospace Center said.

Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said the satellite appears to have gone down over Southeast Asia. He said two Chinese cities with millions of inhabitants each, Chongqing and Chengdu, had been in the satellite's projected path during its re-entry time.

"But if it had come down over a populated area there probably would be reports by now," the astrophysicist, who tracks man-made space objects, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/10/23/financial/f105649D93.DTL

[BlueJazz]

1. "hit the atmosphere at speeds up to 280 mph" I think somebody forgot 2 zeros.

[krispos42]

2. I went to the beach last night to see if I could see it.

No dice... it was right at about sunset and I guess it was just too bright still.


Got to see Jupiter rise, and the ISS flying by over Pennsylvania.