Wednesday, September 21, 2011

 

Space debris warning – Antarctica is the only safe place to be


There’s plenty of danger on the roads for Britain’s young drivers without the potential threat of redundant space hardware dropping onto the road in front of them, but it’s a distinct possibility say Nasa.

Apparently, the space bods have been tracking a six-tonne satellite which, they say, could fall to earth on Friday 23rd September, give or take a day or so.

Scientists reckon the UARS (upper atmosphere research satellite) could break up into around two dozen pieces as it closes in on earth and although there is a one in 3,200 chance that one of these chunks could hit someone on earth, Nasa officials believe that the risk to individuals is “extremely small”.

Gene Stansbery, Nasa’s orbital debris chief (cool job title), said, "Things have been re-entering ever since the dawn of the space age; to date nobody has been injured by anything that's re-entered."

If you want to be completely safe, the only continent on earth that isn’t at risk of a debris strike is Antarctica, but that’s a long way to take your car. Let’s just hope that should your vehicle be hit by the falling wreckage, you have full young driver car insurance and any damage caused will be repaired as soon as possible.

Image © Joe Hastings via Flickr, under Creative Commons Licence

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