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I-15 rollover in Clearfield injures 2

Satellites

In this illustration provided by the Swiss Space Center of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, the CleanSpace One is chasing its target, one of the CubeSats launched by Switzerland in 2009. The EPFL on Wednesday launched the "CleanSpace One", a project to develop and build the first installment of a family of satellites specially designed to clean up space debris, during a press conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, Wednesday, February 15, 2012. (AP Photo/HO/T EPFL/Swiss Space Center) Mandatory Credit - NO SALES

Tidy Swiss want to clean up space.

Last updated Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 7:01pm

GENEVA -- Swiss scientists said Wednesday they plan to launch a "janitor satellite" specially designed to get rid of space junk, the orbiting debris that can do serious and costly damage to valuable satellites or even manned space ships.

Satellites, Scientists, Space Debris, Switzerland, International Read more Comments

Theodore Solomons sits next to the metal ball that he saw fall from the sky on a farm close to Worcester, about 150 kilometres outside of Cape Town, south Africa in April 2000. A second metal ball dropped out of the sky the following day on a farm approximately 50 kilometres outside of Cape Town. Astronomers said the balls, which were white-hot when they landed, could be parts of a decaying satellite

More space debris falling to Earth

Eryn Brown Los Angeles Times

Last updated Wednesday, January 25, 2012 - 11:39am

"Well, here it is," said aerospace engineer William Ailor as he paused next to the hulking metal shells arrayed along the plaza outside a visitor entrance at Aerospace Corp.'s El Segundo, Calif., headquarters.

The stuff is junk. But, Ailor said, it's no ordinary junk. This garbage has traveled to space and back.

A 150-pound hollow sphere of blackened titanium is all that remains of a motor casing from a Delta II rocket that fell to Earth in 2001, landing in the Saudi Arabian desert west of Riyadh.

Features, Satellites, Space, Space Debris, NASA Read more Comments

6-ton satellite hits Earth

Contributed The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, September 24, 2011 - 7:18am

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA says a defunct 6-ton satellite has fallen from the sky.

The agency posted on its official Twitter site that the spacecraft crashed through the atmosphere early Saturday morning. A location was not immediately known.

Satellites, Space, NASA, National Read more Comments

Falling satellite slows down, Earth strike delayed

Marcia Dunn The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, September 23, 2011 - 3:21pm

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A 6-ton NASA satellite on a collision course with Earth clung to space Friday, apparently flipping position in its ever-lower orbit and stalling its death plunge.

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Falling satellite won't hit North America

Denise Chow SPACE.com

Last updated Thursday, September 22, 2011 - 8:06am

A dead NASA satellite will plummet to Earth will on Friday (Sept. 23), and while the U.S. space agency doesn't know exactly where pieces of the massive spacecraft will hit, one thing is certain: North America is in the clear.

Satellites, Space, NASA, National Read more Comments

(The Associated Press) In this image provided by NASA this is the STS-48 onboard photo of the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in the grasp of the RMS (Remote Manipulator System) during deployment, from the shuttle in September 1991. The satellite is 35 feet long, 15 feet in diameter, weighs 13,000 pounds. U.S. space officials say they expect a dead satellite to fall to Earth in about a week. NASA has been watching the 6-ton satellite closely. NASA scientists are doing their best to tell us where a plummeting 6-ton satellite will fall later this week. It’s just that if they’re off a little bit, it could mean the difference between hitting Florida or New York. Or, say, Iran or India.

Earth to satellite: When will you hit and where?

Marcia Dunn The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, September 21, 2011 - 7:15am

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA scientists are doing their best to tell us where a plummeting six-ton satellite will fall later this week. It’s just that if they’re off a little bit, it could mean the difference between hitting Florida or landing on New York. Or, say, Iran or India.

Crash, Satellites, Space, NASA, National Read more Comments

This screen grab image provided by NASA shows UARS attached to the robotic arm of the space shuttle Discovery during mission STS-48 in 1991, when UARS was deployed. NASA scientists are doing their best to tell us where a plummeting 6-ton satellite will fall later this week. It's just that if they're off a little bit, it could mean the difference between hitting Florida or New York. Or, say, Iran or India. (AP Photo/NASA)

Utahns may have chance to see falling satellite

Contributed Standard-Examiner, The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, September 20, 2011 - 1:57pm

NASA says one of its dead satellites will soon fall to Earth but there's very little chance that it will hit someone.

Still a local astronomer says there is a chance Utah residents could catch a glimpse of the satellite as it passes over.

Features, Satellites, Space, NASA Read more Comments

Quake scientists 'flying blind' as satellites go dark

Mark Muckenfuss, The Press-Enterprise

Last updated Friday, May 20, 2011 - 1:56pm

PASADENA, Calif. -- Before it happened, seismologists didn't believe the faults off of Sendai, Japan, were capable of generating anything much larger than a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. But the March 11 quake that spawned a disastrous tsunami measured 9.0.

Earthquake, Satellites, Science, National Read more Comments