Out of control satellite "weeks" away from slamming into Earth

Good news, everyone! According to reports, a US spy satellite which has lost power and propulsion is weeks or even months away from striking Earth. Officials say that the space junk -- which can now no longer be controlled and could contain hazardous materials -- is due to come smashing into some location on our planet's surface, but they can't really say where. "Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the Nation Security Council. Government agencies are still considering options such as shooting down the stray equipment, though they say they'd be just as happy to let the potentially radioactive / alien-filled hunk of metal crash into a small village in a developing country.

[jrv3034 @ Jan 27th 2008 11:37AM]

I just want to say that the image posted above is brilliant!

[Panathas17 @ Jan 27th 2008 12:07PM]

Would've also bee good with Bill Gates...

[Josh @ Jan 27th 2008 12:13PM]

I didn't see the last AVP movie but i could have sworn the predators beat the snot out of those crazy aliens, now they are all wreaking havoc and what not on our satellites.

bloody hell.

[Blackstar @ Jan 27th 2008 3:32PM]

"I hope it falls right on Kenny Loggins."

Don't worry. The government is arranging to have it replaced with the 'Satellite of Love'.

[Nando @ Jan 28th 2008 12:04AM]

I love the Professor Farnsworth reference!! lol

[Harbinger @ Jan 28th 2008 5:07PM]

Definitely a solid image, Night of the Living Dead anyone?

[RC @ Jan 27th 2008 11:38AM]

Alarmist much?

[Liam @ Jan 27th 2008 12:02PM]

I-RON-EE

[Sam Zebian @ Jan 27th 2008 12:37PM]

Next week there will be a follow-up story on CNN- "In other news, The White House went crazy today when they thought they were being attacked, when all that was happening was their own satelite had crashed into the front lawn of the White house. A security alarm was pulled 5 minutes before impact, and President Bush was flown immediately to Alaska in case anything happened."

[Chuckles McGee @ Jan 27th 2008 1:42PM]

Quite a bit alarmist. Odds are this thing hits the ocean or some unpopulated area. Last time I checked, falling satellites were not a major cause of death.

[Eldiablo @ Jan 27th 2008 2:31PM]

I'm just hoping my tinfoil hat protects me...

[m @ Jan 27th 2008 3:07PM]

i think the ocean is the worst possible place it could land. what if it wakes an invincible baby monster from its long slumber?

[ryry @ Jan 27th 2008 3:17PM]

Yes it's very alarmist. If you figure the square footage of earth is about 5,490,300,430,000,000 square feet and say the average person has a 10-foot hit radius, that's 10ft * 6,646,779,879people = 66,467,798,790
5,490,300,430,000,000 / 66,467,798,790 would come out to 1 in 82,000 chance of a person being hit by it haha. That's just how I see it - I'm probably way off.

[Dikkers91 @ Jan 27th 2008 4:42PM]

When you factor in the more populated areas like NYC, it decreases the number of people it could hit in other areas, but increases the number of people it could hit in NYC. The odds are against that happening, but then again, odds dont really mean anything

[Flashpoint @ Jan 27th 2008 11:40AM]

A Xenomorph...why?

[jakus @ Jan 27th 2008 11:42AM]

LMFAO i love the picture. you guys rock

[matt @ Jan 27th 2008 11:45AM]

US Spy satelite?

who they spying on?

[Larry @ Jan 27th 2008 11:50AM]

Who *isn't* America spying on?

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Jan 27th 2008 1:40PM]

their own citiz-nevermind.

[Bill @ Jan 28th 2008 8:06AM]

"[Click].... [Whirrrr]..... captain underpants and the bringdown gang noted for possible seditious activities... Transmitting information to Homeland Security for immediate beatdown and cavity search...."

...

Did anyone else just hear that?

[DT @ Jan 27th 2008 11:52AM]

I got it! I got it!

[matt @ Jan 27th 2008 11:52AM]

they could even be tracking this post right now


if their satelite haddnt gone down that is.

[Blaktornado @ Jan 27th 2008 12:53PM]

I'm sure they have plenty of others :P





"though they say they'd be just as happy to let the potentially radioactive / alien-filled hunk of metal crash into a small village in a developing country"

Who wouldn't?

[C.K. @ Jan 27th 2008 4:59PM]

As long as Google Earth still works this is a non issue.

[reddy @ Jan 28th 2008 9:15AM]

"though they say they'd be just as happy to let the potentially radioactive / alien-filled hunk of metal crash into a small village in a developing country"

does that mean it doesn't matter if it falls on the head of someone in the developing world? how sick and indifferent can humans be

[fanman @ Jan 27th 2008 11:57AM]

You meen the american goverment isn't watching us now?

"rasies two fingers at the atlantic"

[supermeerkat @ Jan 28th 2008 4:01AM]

Why do satellites never land on France? That just doesn't seem far.

[Smileypanda @ Jan 27th 2008 11:59AM]

Well, its got a 7 out of 10 chance that it'll land in the ocean, anyway, and an even smaller chance of hitting the US, so it looks like a win-win to me. After all, Russia is the largest country...

[Wwhat @ Jan 27th 2008 12:53PM]

These satellites don't fall randomly on any spot, they fall along the line of their orbit, so you can't just use the entire surface of the earth and give it an equal likelihood.
It'll probably fall on canada again, america likes to drop things on canada.

[spass @ Jan 27th 2008 1:16PM]

I hope it falls on the white house backyward

[Magnulus @ Jan 27th 2008 12:00PM]

Just send out the Planet Express folks to fix it. You already did a Prof. Farnsworth reference, so why the heck not? I'm sure Leela can take care of the Xeno, too.

[fischju @ Jan 27th 2008 12:00PM]

Radioactive zombies! Be prepared!

[MARSHAK @ Jan 28th 2008 12:54AM]

off topic, message to user

noting your avatar, are you a DFer?

[fischju @ Jan 28th 2008 1:12AM]

Oh snap, you recognize the cover from the Girl's Not Grey single?

I am infact a member of DF.

[a ham sandwich @ Jan 27th 2008 12:01PM]

can someone explain why without propulsion, this satellite's gonna crash. so here's what we know: it lost propulsion so its falling. now assuming its high enough that air resistance is negligible, its current velocity should continue to drive it around the planet (newtons 3rd? law). why would it fall out of orbit?

[rTwelve @ Jan 27th 2008 12:07PM]

Because we're currently experiencing a Bruckheimer blockbuster. Stop going out of character, pay attention to the script.

[Passarinhuu @ Jan 27th 2008 12:07PM]

maybe it lost propulsion while manouvering and the orbit path was changed

[stickmanfc73_ @ Jan 27th 2008 12:10PM]

I thought gravity was always tugging on objects in our orbit. In fact, I thought that propulsion was used to just maintain it's orbit around the earth. Isn't that what happened with the MIR space station?

[Mike Dean @ Jan 28th 2008 9:26AM]

Everything gets pulled down eventually. The propulsion system is design to give the system a boost upward when the orbit gets too low. Without the boost, it will eventually come down due to gravity and atmospheric drag. Most spy satellites are in a low orbit to begin with, so it was probably getting constant nudges just to stay up there.

[a ham sandwich @ Jan 27th 2008 12:13PM]

gravity IS always pulling in (just look how far away the moon is, but it's still here). and i thought the MIR was intentionally crashed in the ocean cuz it got old and sucked?

[dramamoose @ Jan 27th 2008 12:19PM]

Yes, MIR was a controlled descent. I believe that this craft suffered a loss of propulsion during a burn. Thereby screwing up its orbit. It also could've hit a piece of space junk.

[Matt @ Jan 27th 2008 12:26PM]

There are several factors that cause an orbit to degrade, the most significant it air drag. The elliptical orbit takes the satellite very close to Earth's atmosphere, so the drag will slowly cause the satellite to spiral down out of orbit. Maintaining an orbit requires a bit of fuel to counteract this effect.

I don't see what all the fuss is about, this is the standard (and ONLY) method for disposal of an Earth-orbiting satellite.

[A-Deca @ Jan 27th 2008 12:32PM]

Gravity is constantly pulling on objects, including satellites in outer space.

Satellites slowly loose altitude while in orbit, as they are pulled toward the earth by earth's gravity. They need to be occasionally "pushed" upwards using thrusters to keep them from ultimately re-entering earth orbit. The same is true for the MIR and ISS space stations.

This "falling to earth" happens if the satellite is not moving fast enough to escape earth's gravity: the speed of satellites is carefully calibrated to keep them from either "falling" on earth or escaping into outer space. Speed and altitude are adjusted using thrusters, which require fuel: if fuel runs out (or the thrusters break) the satellite will inevitably fall to earth, even though that might take weeks or months.

If an object is moving TOO fast, is will slowly get further and further away from earth. This for example seems to be happening to the moon, which is moving just fast enough to get about 1.5 inches further away from the earth every year (http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=124)

Andrea

[A-Deca @ Jan 27th 2008 12:47PM]

hmmm... I should really be reading the articles that I link.

Apparently the reason the moon is getting farther from the earth has to do with earth tides, not speed.

Nevermind me :)

[a ham sandwich @ Jan 27th 2008 1:11PM]

great explanation deca, thanks!

[erasure25 @ Jan 28th 2008 4:44PM]

There is atmospheric drag, solar winds, etc. There are still air molecules even at the altitude of satellites. Thus, satellites need a boost every now and then to remain in orbit. That being said, parts of the satellite will burn up upon re-entry and the parts that do survive will most likely break apart and could land in more than one place.

Without outside forces (like the atmosphere, the sun, gravitational attraction of passing comets, etc.) satellites could remain in orbit indefinitely. But that isn't the case.

[Passarinhuu @ Jan 27th 2008 12:05PM]

Bush has just lost his Playboy Tv channel. Damn those spy satellites!

[mike @ Jan 27th 2008 12:06PM]

HIT 1 INFINITE LOOP CUPPERTINO, CA!

[Dave B @ Jan 27th 2008 1:09PM]

Oh Mike, it would be great to have it land on your PC fanboy head. You just can't get enough of Apple-bashing that you leave comments on posts about spy satellites? Go squirt someone with your Zune.

[mike @ Jan 27th 2008 1:18PM]

Don't have a Zune. I have a Creative Zen Vision M. By the way that was meant to be a joke.