Topic: Space Debris

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Falling satellite: 10 times space junk has crashed into Earth

Falling satellite trackers at NASA say it will hit Friday night or Saturday morning and has a small chance of crashing in the US. But the precise track and timing of the falling satellite is still hard to predict. Falling space junk has happened before, however, including these 10 examples.
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In Pictures: Space photos of the day 07/27
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Humongous rogue European satellite spotted hurtling through space

Envisat, a massive European satellite that lost contact with the ground earlier this month has been photographed by a French satellite.
Astronauts scramble for escape pods as space junk threat gets serious

Some 22,000 chunks of space junk zip around the earth. On Saturday, six International Space Station astronauts scrambled for safety as a piece of a Russian satellite whizzed by.
Swiss scientists to build 'janitor satellite' to mop up space junk

A team of scientists in Lausanne, Switzerland, have announced a plan to build a satellite that would clear Earth's orbit of space debris.
Russian probe crash sparks conspiracy theories, confusion

Russia's Phobos-Grunt space probesuffered a debilitating malfunction shortly after its November 2011 launch, which stranded it in low-Earth orbit for more than two months before it succumbed to gravitational forces and plummeted through the atmosphere on Jan. 15.
Russia's dead Mars probe crashed in unknown location

So far, no eyewitness accounts of the Phobos-Grunt re-entry have surfaced, and there have been no verified sightings of any pieces of the 14.5-ton spacecraft that may have survived.
Space station moves to avoid space junk in orbit

The International Space Station had to make a slight adjustment Friday to dodge a piece of a satellite, caused by an orbital collision over two years ago.
Russian space probe turned space junk crash will have worldwide audience

According to ESA, studies by the Russian space agency and NASA indicate that Phobos-Grunt's fuel tanks should burst high above the Earth, releasing a load of propellant that will subsequently dissipate.
Malfunctioning Russian probe spotted hurtling through space backward (+video)

Veteran satellite watcher Thierry Legault filmed the wayward Russian Phobos-Grunt probe, which was intended to collect soil samples from a Martian moon but is instead heading toward a destructive plunge back to earth.
Nearly 15 tons of failed Russian Mars probe could slam into Earth Jan. 15

The Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was stranded in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, and it's been circling lower and lower ever since.
Russian Mars probe's fiery reunion with Earth could help re-entry predictions

The uncontrolled tumble of Phobos-Grunt into Earth's atmosphere is being eyed as a possible way to sharpen computer tools to more accurately calculate re-entry predictions.
Chunk of metal crashes through Mass. warehouse. Did it come from space?

Workers at Michael's Wholesale Furniture Distributors in Plymouth, Mass. found a three-pound piece of metal lying on the floor Thursday, below a gaping hole in the roof. The FAA says that it does not seem to have come from an airplane? Was it space junk?
German satellite: What are the odds that it will hit you?

German satellite: The odds of a piece of the retired German ROSAT satellite striking a person are higher than that of the NASA satellite that plunged into the Pacific Ocean in September.
NASA pinpoints crash site of fallen satellite

NASA has determined the exact point where its huge UARS climate satellite fell to Earth. It's in the Pacific Ocean.
NASA says 'we may never know' where runaway satellite crashed

The end to the Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite that fell to Earth Saturday remains unknown due to its wide possible debris field. Best estimates suggest most of the debris fell into the ocean.
NASA satellite falls on Canada as space junk. No one hurt.

The 6-ton UARS satellite — the biggest piece of space debris to fall from the sky since Sky Lab in 1979 — fell back to Earth early Saturday morning. Debris is reported to have been found near Calgary, Canada.
Falling satellite: 10 times space junk has crashed into Earth

Falling satellite trackers at NASA say it will hit Friday night or Saturday morning and has a small chance of crashing in the US. But the precise track and timing of the falling satellite is still hard to predict. Falling space junk has happened before, however, including these 10 examples.
Space junk: Where will out-of-control satellite crash? Probably not on you.

The space junk tumbling into Earth's atmosphere should hit Friday night or Saturday morning. But only 26 pieces are expected to survive, and the chances of one of them hitting any specific person is about 1 in 21 trillion.
UARS satellite (video): Where will this space junk crash?

NASA is tracking the bus-sized Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) and expect it to fall to Earth Friday afternoon. Precisely where the UARS satellite will land is still uncertain - but not in North America, says NASA.
Doomed satellite: Where and when will it plummet to Earth?

It is still too early to tell exactly where the dead satellite will fall. Scientists will likely have a much better idea of where the debris will land about two hours before the impact, NASA officials said.
Satellite crash: A briefing on the 6.5-ton NASA bird falling to Earth

Satellite crash facts and fiction: How big are the risks? NASA says satellite debris could be spread across 500 miles.
SETI puts E.T. on hold

SETI has temporarily halted one of its chief alien-hunting tools, the Allen Telescope Array, citing lack of funding.
Do we need a code of conduct for space?

Some experts are calling for an international code of conduct for spacefaring nations. But defining misconduct isn't easy.
Photos of the Day: Photos of the Day 08/13
Perseid meteor shower probably won't pelt spacewalking astronauts, says NASA

The Perseid meteor shower poses minimal risk to spacewalking astronauts trying to repair the International Space Station, and might even offer them a spectacular show.
In Pictures: Space photos of the day 07/27