Barely few weeks after a bus-sized US satellite headed unpredictably toward Earth crossed over Africa and the northern Atlantic before plunging into the Pacific Ocean off California, A German satellite around the size of a car is speeding towards Earth; officials said on Wednesday that it is due to re-enter the atmosphere later this month but with little idea where fragments could land.
The x-ray observatory, named Rosat, is expected to return to Earth between October 20 and 25, traveling at a speed of around 28 000km/h.
The German Aerospace Centre (DLR) said in a statement.
"The latest studies reveal that it is possible that up to 30 individual pieces weighing a total of 1.6 tons may reach the surface of the Earth," the DLR said in a statement on its website.
"The time and location of re-entry cannot be predicted precisely,"
The satellite could re-enter the atmosphere three days before or after this range, the DLR said, stressing there was very little danger to humans.
When the US satellite fell; Nasa said.
There were no sightings or reliable accounts of damage as the six-tonne Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) fell from the sky.
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