UARS Flying at 160 km

Arist's conception of NASA UARS reentering Earth's atmosphere (Credits: AGI).

According to NASA, the UARS satellite has lowered its orbit to an altitude of about 160 to 17 km. “Solar activity is no longer the major factor in the satellite’s rate of descent. The satellite’s orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent. ”

The satellite will burn up in the atmosphere, but about 26 large pieces are expected to hit the ground.

NASA and the Joint Space Operations Center of U.S. Strategic Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., are following the satellite trajectory. Reentry is expected later on Friday September 23, or early on Saturday 24, EDT. The changes in descent rate does not allow yet to predict exactly time and location of reentry. Predictions will become more precise in the next 12 to 18 hours. Real time tracking site, like n2yo.com, are currently down because are unable to keep up with the amount of visitors. The website of Aerospace publishes an updated forecast of the impact zone.

Yellow Icon - location of object at predicted reentry time Orange Line - area of visibility at the predicted reentry time for a ground observer Blue Line - ground track uncertainty prior to predicted reentry time (ticks at 5-minute intervals) Yellow Line - ground track uncertainty after predicted reentry time (ticks at 5-minute intervals) White Line - day/night divider at predicted reentry time (Sun location shown by White Icon) Note: Possible reentry locations lie anywhere along the blue and yellow ground track (Source: Aerospace).