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On the heels of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite's (UARS) splashdown in the Pacific Ocean,
Telegraph reporter Andy Bloxham warned over the weekend that a second satellite is headed for Earth and should re-enter our planet's atmosphere sometime next month.
The craft in question is the Röntgensatellit (aka the ROSAT), a 2.4-ton space telescope that was originally constructed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and was disabled after its guidance system failed in 1999.
According to Bloxham, authorities originally believed the satellite would burn up completely in Earth's atmosphere, they now believe that pieces of debris from the ROSAT - some weighing upwards of 800 pounds - could collide with the planet's surface by the end of October.
"Up to 30 pieces of metal and carbon fiber are expected to survive the blazing temperatures of re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere and strike land,"
The Telegraph writer said on Saturday. "Among them are the giant mirrors which were designed to be heat-resistant to protect the telescope's x-ray array."
Heiner Klinkrad, the head of the space debris office at the European Space Agency, told Bloxham that the Röntgensatellit had "a large mirror structure that survives high re-entry temperatures."
Comment: The purported photograph of the fireball, above, captured by a young man who was later forced to confess that it was a hoax, is probably based on the reasoning that the fireball in his photograph is red, while other witnesses described seeing the fireball emanating a blue light. What the authorities don't realise is that meteors burning through the Earth's atmosphere can go through 4, 5 or more colours of the rainbow before fizzling out or impacting the ground.
Notice how the media casually dismiss "earlier reports" with fabrications about gas canisters from a leaky pizza oven obliterating a suburban street.... even though Argentinian investigators have already ruled out a gas leak.
That ain't no satellite! Meteorite impacts Buenos Aires, Argentina