How is it Possible We Don't know where a SIX TON Satellite Fell?

don't forget that the satellite is older technology and no longer functioning. Not much to track it with.

reply to post by ColoradoJens


It just means you spend too much time on ATS. .

Originally posted by lpowell0627

Originally posted by Heartisblack
They're bull#ting us, of course they know where it is. If they have the funds to track and observe us, can't they do the same for that expensive piece of space junk ?

Two different animals. They can track us via cell phones, working cameras, electronic transactions, etc. It is usually a combination of multiple pieces of technology. The satellite was no longer working. There was no way to "connect" to it, nor was it's on board locator still functioning.

Lastly, NASA was providing updates throughout the day yesterday telling us approximately where it was. It's not like they completely lost a school-bus size piece of equipment. However, upon entry, it broke up into numerous pieces with many completely burning up. They have stated it made entry over the Pacific. While still a large area, it's not the same as saying it could have landed anywhere in the world.

There is millions upon millions of dollars invested into that satellite and they can't find it ? You, my dear sir are bull#ting me.

Originally posted by lpowell0627
reply to post by ColoradoJens

 

It just means you spend too much time on ATS.

.

Ahem. Distinct possibility.

CJ

Originally posted by nixie_nox
don't forget that the satellite is older technology and no longer functioning. Not much to track it with.

Our military tracks every single flash, meteor, rocket launch over the whole earth...they do have the technology to track a much touted big hunk of junk falling from the shy....really they do. They just don't like to share information.

reply to post by lpowell0627


I hardly think "we don't know" sounds more professional than "we've narrowed it down"...

reply to post by ColoradoJens


Things have burnt up upon reentry in our atmosphere for eons.

Six Tons or not, friction is unavoidable when falling through the atmosphere at near 17,000 mph.

As the air becomes denser, so does the friction which only intensifies the heat and accelerates the process.

Recall how the Space Shuttle Columbia which weighed considerably more at 80 tons broke up upon reentry...into little pieces ?

Gravity and Physics (except on 911) generally always work as historically proven by science.

This Satellite was no different.




This is most likely why Nasa wasn't overly concerned .....but only the Chicken Little crowd were !

"The Sky is Falling....The Sky is Falling.....cluck cluck cluck"

While the original satellite tipped the scales at six and a half tons (not twenty), most of it would burn up during reentry. From the linked article:

Some 26 pieces of the satellite representing 1,200 pounds of heavy metal had been expected to rain down somewhere. The biggest surviving chunk should be no more than 300 pounds.

They can make that sort of prediction by looking at blueprints....only the heaviest and most solidly built pieces are going to survive. I'd place bets on some of the control thrusters, fuel tanks, and instrument support frames, but I'm just guessing. In any case, assuming one piece that's 200 lbs (just to match up with the projection, and to make the math simple), you'd have 25 pieces that average 40 lbs (not that big a piece of metal) and 1 200 lb piece (big, but hardly huge) all on different reentry tracks (some parts are going to break free before the main body starts its reentry, and once in atmosphere, chunks will tear free in a really unpredictable pattern). That's why there isn't a single reentry time, but a time frame.

The two government agencies said the 35-foot satellite fell sometime between 11:23 p.m. EDT Friday and 1:09 a.m. EDT Saturday, but with no precise time or location.

Given orbital speeds, even a few minutes difference in when / if a particular piece separated can make a big difference in the point of impact, and the smaller bits are going to be difficult if not impossible to track, particularly in atmosphere.

As a check of the above, look back at the Columbia reentry breakup. That at least started out as a controlled reentry, at a known time and location, unlike the UARS...even so, the debris field from Columbia covered parts of multiple states, as you can see here.

I'm not a big fan of NASA in recent years...I don't think the program has been particularly well managed, and it certainly hasn't done a very good job of justifying its existence to the American taxpayer. I'm betting that if and when America goes back to space, SpaceX, XCOR, or Armadillo Aerospace will be a lot more likely to lead the way than NASA...but with that said, I don't expect NASA to do the impossible by tracking every miniscule piece of a reentering satellite. I'm also glad that most of the major players in the orbital game have made it a policy to plan for controlled de-orbit of anything they launch.

You'd think it would have had some sort of black box on it like aeroplanes do. Why not? Some other country might pinch them.

Anyway, according to the Daily Mail a couple of hours ago pieces were believed to have landed in Canada and/or Africa and/or Italy. Also Texas and California. Work that out.

Plunging satellite debris dropped somewhere over Africa or Canada

A series of videos purportedly showing the UARS spacecraft entering the atmosphere have emerged, with a sightings in Texas and California caught on film by news stations.

A video posted on YouTube captures what could be the satellite crashing to Earth at 3.55am local time in Maro Valley, near Imperia in north Italy.

If that's how good they are at tracking that little thing I'm worried about the bigger one that's going to fall in November. I thought things that are falling on us from space these days could be blown up till they're a safe size?

Originally posted by Destinyone

Originally posted by nixie_nox
don't forget that the satellite is older technology and no longer functioning. Not much to track it with.

Our military tracks every single flash, meteor, rocket launch over the whole earth...they do have the technology to track a much touted big hunk of junk falling from the shy....really they do. They just don't like to share information.

edit on 24-9-2011 by Destinyone because: (no reason given)

Yeah no way they didn't track it do they think we're complete idiots?? They want us to believe not one single camera/satellite/telescope/radar/etc. did not see where this thing went?? I certainly don't buy that it's ridiculous. Its not like this just happened out of nowhere and it came down before they could react, they've been well aware of this for a long time.

reply to post by Heartisblack


Oh brother. No matter how much money it cost, dead is dead. There is no tracking system. There is no GPS. The satellite is defunct.

Trying to track this satellite more accurately than they already have would be the same as flying a plane over a 500 mile distance and dropping various objects....dollars, pennies, quarters, etc....and then pinpointing where each and every piece landed. Even it you dropped millions of dollars out of the plane you would still only have an idea of where they landed based on size, weight, distance, etc.

The satellite was able to be tracked from space. Hence the updates yesterday. Once it entered the atmosphere, unless they had every single available camera pointed at the entire sky from Canada to South America, the entire Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, there is no way to track every single piece of a 26 piece fallout.

reply to post by marzabeth


They didn't say they don't know.
They said "somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean".

If half the people in this thread are calling NASA and asking some of these questions, I would hang-up if I worked there.

Not everything is a conspiracy.

Not to mention, many posters have gone on and on about how useless NASA is, totally oblivious, completely moronic...etc., in numerous other NASA-related threads, Yet now they are trying to say this inept agency should be able to track 26 pieces, at largest size weighing a couple of hundred pounds, free falling somewhere around the entire globe? Isn't that a little hypocritical?

reply to post by lpowell0627


Not when it is their job to do so.

CJ

Originally posted by lpowell0627
reply to post by Heartisblack

 

Oh brother. No matter how much money it cost, dead is dead. There is no tracking system. There is no GPS. The satellite is defunct.

Trying to track this satellite more accurately than they already have would be the same as flying a plane over a 500 mile distance and dropping various objects....dollars, pennies, quarters, etc....and then pinpointing where each and every piece landed. Even it you dropped millions of dollars out of the plane you would still only have an idea of where they landed based on size, weight, distance, etc.

I saw a football player once get hit by a penny that was flung from the crowd. Made a nasty dent in his head.

If NASA or anybody else is putting things up there that are eventually going to fall down ANYWHERE, then there's something wrong. Not a conspiracy, but a definite threat to one's health.
And there's more to come.

reply to post by Destinyone


My Guy Thony says uh, Ya it boind up on dat near entry ding dat all of dose satelites dings do ya know. So hey
if my guy Thony says dats wha happen den dats wha happen ok?

reply to post by randyvs


yes rear entry is often difficult an unreliable thanks for the update

You hit it right on the nail ,WE don't know where it fell. They do..and thats if it was even a satelite. Ever heardof radar.

reply to post by TDawgRex


I'm confedent the SPY-1 radars were tracking it.

erm...why do you think the lovely NASA are being 'evasive'?...they are picking up the debris as we are on here...It didn't do any significant damage and the last statement put out traverses North America (Canada) and Pacific and Africa...I think this has been put out so they can collect 'said' debris. Rather larger than the 500km...so I believe it might be the Pacific Ocean/Canada or Africa...could be any...take your pic...

I am a bit sad because I am 4 hrs drive from the 'supposed' location in Calgary...Media quiet here and no it did not pass over here where I live because it was coming from a different angle....

It's not that I have any disregard or disrespect for NASA they are just doing their job!...there is no conspiracy....it happened...get over it!!!! and as far as we are all aware no one was killed. which is a blessing....

This is one of the rarer satellites that could not be controlled and my understanding is that most can be in a controlled descent these days.

I am sure NASA will put out a full statement although their supposed statement at 2pm was as i said evasive...and for reasons I am sure are not untoward....just cautious.

Having said above larger than the 500km...it could have been 500km but in the three areas specified...we don't know until they decide to let us know....I don't have a problem with that...but I'm sure some people will!