By next weekend, a U.S. satellite the size of a bus will return to Earth – destination unknown.
U.S. space officials have been monitoring the decommissioned satellite closely and have calculated that 26 pieces, one weighing 159 kilograms, will survive re-entry at a speed of 29,000 km/h and hit the Earth within a day or two of Friday. While they can't predict where the space junk will land, they do know for certain it will not hit Antarctica.
The chances of being hit by a piece of the disintegrating satellite are 1 in 3,200, which is greater than the odds of being hit by lightning. The odds are low because most of the planet is covered by water.
NASA officials say there has only been one case of a person being hit by space debris. In 1997, Oklahoma resident Lottie Williams was hit in the shoulder by a piece of metal the size of her hand while she was walking in a park in Tulsa. She was not injured.
Carried into orbit by the space shuttle Discovery 20 years ago, the 5.4-tonne Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite was used to study chemical components of the atmosphere and various light transmitted by the sun. The satellite was switched off in 2005.
With files from The Associated Press
