Chances of being hit by satellite debris ‘1 in 3,200’
The chances that someone is hit by asteroid pieces are one in 3,200, NASA says.
As NASA can’t say exactly where debris from a falling climate satellite will hit, news media report the US space agency as saying that the chances that someone, somewhere on the planet, will be hit by one of the chunks are 1 in 3,200.
NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is falling out of the orbit, with chances that it might hit the Earth this evening. But NASA officials cannot say exactly where the 26 pieces of the satellite will land, even though NASA says there very little possibility that they survive reentry into the atmosphere.
BBC reports NASA as saying that its out-of-control climate satellite would “not be passing over North America.”
Meanwhile Italian media are reporting that – according to scientists - there is a 0.9% probability that debris from the satellite could hit North Italy between 9:25pm today and 10:03pm tomorrow.
The area would include val d’Aosta, Piemonte, Lombardia, Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli, Liguria ed Emilia Romagna.
