App tracks ROSAT satellite's crash to Earth
ROSAT, a defunct X-ray telescope, is crashing to Earth sooner than expected owing to enhanced solar activity, says Johann-Dietrich Wörner, executive director of DLR, the German lab in charge of the mission. It was thought that the 2.4 tonne spacecraft would deorbit in late October or early November, but Wörner says the re-entry date is now going to be between 20 October and 25 October.
"Increased solar radiation activity has enlarged the atmosphere, increasing the friction on the satellite. So it will come down earlier than expected," he says. But he can't say where in that date range the satellite is most likely to deorbit - it depends on fast-fluctuating atmospheric conditions. Heatproof optics mean much more of ROSAT's mass is expected to survive re-entry compared to the NASA UARS satellite that fell into the Pacific Ocean last month.
More: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/10/space-telescopes-re-entry-brou.html
Music: Another one bites the dust (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0WxgSXdEE)
I could just fancy some heat proof optics - I could kill the dew with a blow torch! Just not through the roof...