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Falling Italian Satellite to Shower Earth with Debris This Week
By PETER B. de SELDING
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 12:30 pm ET
28 April 2003
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Untitled DocumentPARIS Italys BeppoSAX astronomy satellite is expected to plunge into the atmosphere April 29 or April 30, breaking up into pieces and raining an estimated 40 fragments some weighing up to 120 kilograms [265 pounds] onto the Earth, according to an April 28 statement by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). About 360 kilograms [794 pounds] of satellite fragments are expected to survive the re-entry and hit the Earth at speeds of between 60 and 460 kilometers per hour [37-286 mph], according to ASI. The precise impact area is not yet known beyond the fact that the pieces surviving re-entry are expected to fall in an area 320 kilometers long and 42 kilometers wide [199 by 26 miles] along the equator. Nations with territory up to 4.4 degrees north and south of the equator all told, 28 nations in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia have been informed of the risk, according to ASI. BeppoSAX, launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., in April 1996, and operated for six years in a 600-kilometer circular orbit before ground controllers shut it down April 30, 2002. For the past year it has been uncontrolled and considered as orbital debris. With the aid of U.S. government authorities, ASI officials have been monitoring decay in the satellites orbit and revising the estimated re-entry date and time on a regular basis. Other Falling Satellites:
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