Space scientists and government officials are tracking two massive objects that are hurtling toward Earth, but only one, a dead satellite the size of a bus, is expected to hit somewhere on the globe.
Government officials said Saturday that a large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit Earth in late February or early March. And an asteroid at least 500 feet long will make a rare close pass by Earth early Tuesday, but scientists say there is no chance of an impact.
The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where it might come down, said the government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret.
"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," says Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
John Pike, director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org, estimates that the spacecraft weighs about 20,000 pounds and is the size of a small bus. Satellites have natural decay periods, and it's possible this one died as long as a year ago and is just now getting ready to re-enter the atmosphere.
Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow at the National Security Archive, says the spacecraft probably is a photo-reconnaissance satellite. Those are used to gather information from space about adversarial governments and terror groups and to survey damage from hurricanes, fires and other disasters.
The closest approach of the asteroid, known as 2007 TU24, is expected to be at 334,000 miles, or about 1½ times the distance of Earth to the moon.
The nighttime encounter should be bright enough for medium-size telescopes to get a glimpse, says Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which tracks potentially dangerous space rocks. The closest approach is expected to be at 3:33 a.m. ET.
The asteroid TU24 is one of an estimated 7,000 so-called near-Earth objects.
An actual collision of a similar-size object with Earth occurs on average every 37,000 years.
Spotted in October by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, TU24 is estimated to be 500 to 2,000 feet long.
The next time an asteroid this size will fly this close to Earth will be in 2027.
Contributing: Reuters
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Maybe this passing rock has something in its wake. Or...it could be whacking a satellite or other junk on its way by like a pool ball. All the other warning crap is just to keep people from investigating. (Gee, like that ever works)