A defunct 6-ton NASA
science satellite plummeted into the atmosphere early Saturday, showering a ton
of debris over the Pacific Ocean.
NASA believed its
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, returned to Earth sometime
between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday and 01:09 a.m. EDT Saturday. There were reports
on Twitter of debris, presumably from UARS, over the skies of Okotoks, a small
town south of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. NASA has since confirmed the satellite
reentered over the Pacific Ocean, although the exact location has yet to be
identified.
UARS had been slowly
losing altitude since its mission ended in 2005. By Friday evening, it was
plowing through the upper fringes of the atmosphere it once studied, coming as
close as about 90 miles above Earth's surface. NASA's last update before the satellite
re-entered pegged it at 85 miles above Earth.
The spacecraft,
nicknamed UARS, was dispatched by a space shuttle crew in 1991 to study ozone
and other chemicals in the atmosphere.
NASA and the U.S.
Air Force, which tracks space debris, predicted UARS would make its final orbit
sometime between 11 p.m. EDT Friday and 3 a.m. EDT Saturday.
During that time,
the satellite passed over Canada, Africa and Australia, as well as the Pacific,
Atlantic and Indian oceans. About 1,100 pounds of debris were expected to
survive the fiery plummet through the atmosphere.
With most of the
planet covered in water and vast uninhabited deserts and other land directly
beneath the satellite's flight path, the chance that someone would be hit by
falling debris was 1-in-3,200, NASA said.
Image:
The UARS satellite being deployed by the shuttle in 1991 (NASA)
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