THUNDER BAY – NASA is starting to firm up its prediction for the re-entry to earth’s atmosphere for the UARS satellite. While the information is starting to firm up however, there is still no solid prediction as to where the satellite will likely impact earth.
This morning, NASA states, “As of Sept. 21, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 120 mi by 130 mi (195 km by 210 km). Re-entry is expected Sept. 23, United States time. The time reference does not mean that the satellite is expected to re-enter over the United States. It is simply a time reference. Although it is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry, predictions of the time period are becoming more refined”.
Information from the space agency will be coming more frequently now that the predicted date is nearer. NASA will provide updates weekly until four days before the anticipated re-entry, then daily until about 24 hours before re-entry, and then at about 12 hours, six hours and two hours before re-entry.