Following the demise of USA 193 [ see Burnt Frost ] , which was destroyed by the US Navy in 2008 and the recent public interest in the re - entry of UARS , this page will keep the reader up to date with forthcoming satellite re-entries.
PHOBOS GRUNT
Nov 10 2011 2100GMT
As things stand at present it looks like attempts to recontact Russia's Phobos Grunt satellite have failed.The spacecraft was launched last week on a mission to Phobos , but suffered an anomaly shortly thereafter.Weighing in at over 14 tons it carries a large amount of unspent fuel.Should the attempts to gain control of the satellite fail , it will crash back to earth within a short time.
Experts have suggested this could well be the biggest and most dangerous re-entrry to date and there is already talk of an ASAT attempt to destroy it on orbit.
07/01/2012.........The spacecraft is now within ten days of re entry. Predictions indicate decay on or around January 15th 2012
ROSAT
The next event will be the decay of ROSAT the ROentgen SATellite X-ray observatory
Despite weighing in at 2.4 tonnes , somewhat less than UARS , ROSAT is more likely to spread debris across a wide area as the satellite was built with heavier than usual shielding to protect the mirrors
ROSAT is presently slated as falling back to Earth sometime between 15th and 20th of October.
15/10/2011.....Latest estimates indicate that re - entry now looks set for sometime October 22/24
The FAA has now issued the following NOTAM...
SPECIAL NOTICE .. ..........EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL 1110252359 UTC. AIRCRAFT ARE ADVISED THAT A POTENTIAL HAZARD MAY OCCUR DUE TO REENTRY OF THE SATELLITE ROSAT INTO THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE. THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) IS WORKING WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) AND THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) TO ENSURE THAT THE MOST CURRENT RE-ENTRY INFORMATION IS PROVIDED TO OPERATORS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. FURTHER NOTAMS WILL BE ISSUED IF SPECIFIC INFORMATION BECOMES AVAILABLE INDICATING A UNITED STATES (US) AIRSPACE IMPACT. IN THE INTEREST OF FLIGHT SAFETY, IT IS CRITICAL THAT ALL PILOTS/FLIGHT CREW MEMBERS REPORT ANY OBSERVED FALLING SPACE DEBRIS TO THE APPROPRIATE ATC FACILITY AND INCLUDE POSITION, ALTITUDE, TIME, AND DIRECTION OF DEBRIS OBSERVED. THE DOMESTIC EVENTS NETWORK /DEN/ TELEPHONE 202-493-5107, IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY.
I captured these images of ROSAT during a high elevation pass on the 8th September 2004 |
ROSAT is down....although no-one knows quite where !
From http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10424/
ROSAT - latest news
Last update: 23 October 2011, 02:45 UTC (04:45 CEST)
On Sunday, 23 October 2011, between 1:45 UTC (3:45 CEST) and 2:15 UTC (4:15 CEST) the german ROentgen SATellite ROSAT has re-entered Earth's atmosphere. There is currently no confirmation if pieces of debris have reached Earth's surface.
From the times provided it would appear that re-entry took place over the Indian Ocean somewhere to the north of Diego Garcia.
IGS 1B
Also in our sights is the Japanese classified satellite IGS 1 B seen below when imaged in may 2004 a year after it was launched
And observed again , four years later in July 2008 by which time it is rumoured it had failed.
* We suspect 1B to be the radar [SAR] platform
* IGS 1B (Information Gathering Satellite 1B) and IGS 1A are two Japanese reconnaissance satellites that were launched by a H-2A rocket from Tanegashima Space Center at 01:27 UT on 28 March 2003. They may be tasked to watch for nuclear explosions and missile launches in nearby countries, in addition to global natural disasters and hurricanes. As such, according to the Japanese Defence Ministry, the launch is not in violation of the Japan-N. Korea declaration of September 2002. One of the two spacecraft uses optical cameras with a resolution of one meter; the other uses synthetic aperture radar to provide images at a resolution of a few meters. No information is available as to which satellite carries which instrument. [ Credit NASA ]