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View Full Version : German Rosat spacecraft to make uncontrolled re-entry

Gerald
10-22-11, 10:51 AM
A big German spacecraft is about to make an uncontrolled fall from the sky.The Roentgen Satellite (Rosat) is due to come back to Earth at some stage over the weekend - possibly Sunday.Just as for Nasa's UARS satellite, which plunged into the atmosphere in September, no-one can say precisely when and where Rosat will come in.What makes the redundant German craft's return interesting is that much more debris this time is likely to survive all the way to the Earth's surface.Experts calculate that perhaps as much as 1.6 tonnes of wreckage - more than half the spacecraft's launch mass - could ride out the destructive forces of re-entry and hit the planet. In the case of UARS, the probable mass of surviving material was put at only half a tonne (out of a launch mass of more than six tonnes).The difference is due to some more robust components on the German space agency (DLR) satellite.Rosat was an X-ray telescope mission and had a mirror system made of a reinforced carbon composite material. This mirror complex and its support structure are expected to form the largest single fragment in what could be a shower of some 30 pieces of debris to make it through to the surface.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15402157

Note: 22 October 2011 Last updated at 13:59 GMT
Oberon
10-22-11, 11:07 AM
I bet it lands on London... :03:
Gerald
10-22-11, 11:24 AM
I bet it lands on London... :03: At 10 Downing Street, :D
Gerald
10-22-11, 01:46 PM
http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/8122/rosatsatellitereentry11.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/855/rosatsatellitereentry11.jpg/)
Jimbuna
10-22-11, 03:52 PM
I bet it lands on London... :03:

It would be weighed in for scrap within minutes :03:
MothBalls
10-22-11, 06:28 PM
Watching this live on two different feeds. They need to get in sync, because according to their 'live' feed they are 1/4 a world off.....


http://www.n2yo.com/?s=20638

http://www.theweatherspace.com/livebroadcast.html
Sailor Steve
10-22-11, 08:11 PM
Both show the same to me - just crossing the coast of Equador.

Pretty cool, though. Thanks for the links.
TLAM Strike
10-22-11, 10:12 PM
Never knew Germany made a FOBS... :hmmm:






:D
papa_smurf
10-23-11, 04:59 AM
And theres me thinking germans made stuff that lasted longer.....
Gerald
10-23-11, 08:52 AM
Not this time....:D
TLAM Strike
10-23-11, 09:36 AM
And theres me thinking germans made stuff that lasted longer.....
Been known to happen. They advertize that it will last for a thousand years and it lasts for twelve... :O:
Oberon
10-23-11, 09:42 AM
Been known to happen. They advertize that it will last for a thousand years and it lasts for twelve... :O:

:har::har::har::har: Oh, you're doing well today :03:
Gerald
10-23-11, 09:56 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15402157
Dowly
10-23-11, 10:02 AM
Been known to happen. They advertize that it will last for a thousand years and it lasts for twelve... :O:

LMAO :haha:
Jimbuna
10-23-11, 12:58 PM
Been known to happen. They advertize that it will last for a thousand years and it lasts for twelve... :O:

LOL :DL
Penguin
10-23-11, 01:18 PM
@ TLAM: :haha:

However the advertisement campaign never said that the product would last 1000 continuous years. :O: