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GOCE Satellite Is Falling To Earth But Nobody Knows Where It Will Land

Posted by Unknown on from the coming-to-a-roof-near-you dept.

Virtucon writes "The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer or GOCE Satellite is expected to fall to Earth this weekend. It weighs over a ton and unfortunately the Scientists don't exactly know where it will land. You can track it here. It should re-enter sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning. Makr Hopkins, chair of the National Society's Executive Committee said: 'The satellite is one of the few satellites in a Polar Orbit. Consequently, it could land almost anywhere.' The GOCE mission was to create an accurate gravity map of the Earth."

12 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. The tracking website is down... by ClaraBow · · Score: 5, Funny

    I"m sleeping in the basement tonight!

    1. Re:The tracking website is down... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      And that's news? :)

  2. Use the map by david999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You would think they could use the gravity map the satellite was creating to predict where the satellite would fall.....

    1. Re:Use the map by Brad1138 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I know not of this "Gravity" you speak of, but "Intelligent falling" is hard to predict.

      --
      If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
  3. Re:Legal aspect by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, it all depends.

    If it lands in the US, it could be considered a lawsuit.
    If it lands on South Korea, it could be construed as a blow from the Sacred Unicorn of the North.
    If it lands in Russia, it will end up on You Tube for weeks.

    If it lands anywhere else, it will be Obama's fault.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  4. Re: Legal aspect by Badblackdog · · Score: 3, Funny

    "If it lands anywhere else, it will be Bush's fault." FTFY

  5. NASA Satellite Falls On Car by Rick+Richardson · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgTyiaDmytw

  6. No problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    As long as it doesn't contain a toilet seat...

  7. Reason to live by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

    So you mean there's a chance it could come down on my mother-in-law's head?

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  8. Re:Random chance of live/property destruction? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Schroedinger insurance: When you open to paperwork to check wither you are covered, an exclusion clause spontaneously appears.

  9. Re:Define "irony" by niftymitch · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's not gravity that's the problem - it's air resistance. Earth's atmosphere doesn't have a distinct edge, and you have to get pretty frelling far out before the particle count drops low enough not to matter to things going 10,000+mph. Certainly a lot farther than the measly few dozen miles to low Earth orbit.

    Well the orbital path does make large parts of the globe safe.

    That is why Carly and I are flying my jet to Nova Scotia just to be safe.

    --
    Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
  10. Not the solution by Hamsterdan · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's probably a better way to research gravity than randomly throwing satellites at the earth...

    --
    I've got better things to do tonight than die.