UARS Satellite Falls Harmlessly Back to Earth

September 26, 2011 — A 6.5-ton decommissioned NASA research satellite fell back to earth late Friday evening or early Saturday morning, more than 20 years after its launch on a 14-year mission that produced long-term records of chemicals in the atmosphere. Although NASA officials know about when the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, fell — between 11:23 p.m. EDT September 23 and 1:09 a.m. September 24 — they still are not sure where it fell. During the re-entry period, the satellite passed from the east coast of Africa over the Indian Ocean, then the Pacific Ocean, then across northern Canada, then across the northern Atlantic Ocean, to a point over West Africa. The vast majority of the orbital transit was over water, with some flight over northern Canada and West Africa. However, data indicates the satellite likely broke apart and landed in the Pacific Ocean far off the U.S. coast, NASA reported. Twenty-six satellite components, weighing a total of about 1,200 pounds, could have survived the fiery re-entry and reach the surface of Earth. However, officials said they were not aware of any reports of injury or property damage. NASA does know where it did not fall, however. NASA reported on its Twitter account that reports that the satellite fell in Okotoks, Alberta, were a hoax. The Star reported a Calgary filmmaker started the rumors on his Twitter account, using quotes adapted from Orson Welles’ 1938 “The War of the Worlds” radio drama, which convinced terrified Americans that Martians had invaded the U.S. The Operations Center for JFCC-Space, the Joint Functional Component Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, which works around the clock detecting, identifying, and tracking all man-made objects in Earth orbit, tracked the movements of UARS through the satellite’s final orbits and provided confirmation of re-entry. UARS was launched September 12, 1991, aboard space shuttle mission STS-48 and deployed on September 15, 1991. It was the first multi-instrumented satellite to observe numerous chemical components of the atmosphere for better understanding of photochemistry.

A conceptual image of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, UARS. Image credit: NASA The ground track of NASA's UARS re-entry shows where the defunct satellite was passing over just before it fell to Earth. The circle presents the most likely point of landing. Image credit: NASA

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