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Sunday, November 10, 2013

One-Ton Satellite To Crash Into Earth – But Scientists Do Not Know Where (Nigeria ??? Let us Pray)



Don't mind the "Let us pray" part of the post tittle.. Just an awareness and the Nigerian pastors or imams should not use this report to extort more from members of their respective Churches and Mosques.
I think there should be law criminalizing the clergy guys for taking too much of money from the Masses or they should be paying huge taxes with no tax return. Chai !!

The Report as follows after the break.

A one-ton satellite is likely to crash down to earth this weekend – but scientists don't know where.
The European Space Agency (ESA) says the craft, which has been in low-Earth orbit since 2009, has go out of fuel, ending its mission.

It's likely to disintegrate on re-entry, with most of the fragments burning up in the atmosphere. But around 20% of the satellite's mass – about 200kg – is likely to crash to earth in several fragments and it's impossible to predict where they will land.

However ESA scientists say there's no need to worry – humans are much more prone to win the lottery than get hit by the debris. Dr Heiner Klinkrad, head of the ESA's Space Debris Office said: 

“The risk to the people on ground will soon be minute. Statistically speaking, it's 250,000 times more probable to win the jackpot in the German Lotto than to have hit by way of a GOCE fragment.
“In 56 years of space flight, no man-made space objects that have re-entered into Earth's atmosphere have ever caused injury to humans.”

The satellite, known as the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), has been mapping the Earth's gravitational field, that will be essential for understanding changing sea levels.
The craft's orbit is decaying rapidly. It's expected to attain an altitude of 80km above the earth's surface on Sunday night, at which point it will begin to disintegrate.

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