A 600kgNASA satelliteis expected to plummet to Earth on Tuesday evening, sparking a warning from space experts about potential debris. However, officials stress that the risk of it hitting anyone remains slim.
Militaryforecastsfrom Monday suggest most of the the Van Allen Probe A, which has studied radiation belts for over a decade, will incinerate upon re-entry, though some fragments are likely to survive the heat.
US Space Forcetracking data shows the probe should pierce the atmosphere at approximately 7.45 pm EDT.Space Forceexperts estimate the odds of injury at roughly 1 in 4,200.
A 600-kilogram NASA satellite will enter Earth's atmosphere tomorrow.The Van Allen Probe A research satellite, weighing approximately 600 kilograms and launched in 2011, is scheduled to enter Earth's atmosphere on March 11. The spacecraft operated until 2019, after which it…pic.twitter.com/7UgxDg4GuL
Space officials say they will keep tracking the descent to refine their timing, though the first estimates could be off by a day in either direction.
While a falling satellite may sound rare, figures from Wired show that thousands of tons of space junk have entered the atmosphere over a four-decade span.
Notably, the likelihood of an impact on land is slim because the ocean covers most of our planet. A 2011 report from space.com suggests the collective risk to the global population is roughly 1 in 3,200. Still,NASAscientist Mark Matney told the site that the danger to any single human is practically non-existent, at about one in several trillion.
Lottie Williams, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, had a different experience in January 1997 while out in a park. After seeing a bright burst in the sky, she was hit on her shoulder by a 6-inch piece of metal that dropped from above.
Although the charred piece of metal was not officially classed as debris, NASA noted that the incident matched the trajectory of a Delta rocket stage breaking up in the atmosphere. Despite the impact, Williams walked away without any injuries, and she is still the only individual on record to have been hit by man-made junk falling from orbit.
A piece of space rock smashed into a German home this past Sunday, marking a rare land strike for the thousands of meteorites that fall annually. While experts believe that up to 17,000 such objects reach our planet each year, most simply vanish into the sea.
Source: International Business Times UK
