Look up! Out of control satellite to hit Earth around Friday (or maybe Thursday; or Saturday)

via NASA satellite expected to hit Earth this week at The Washington Post:

The sky is not falling. A 12,500-pound NASA satellite the size of a school bus is, however.

It’s the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS — YOU-arz — and it’s currently tumbling in orbit and succumbing to Earth’s gravity. It will crash to the surface Friday.

Or maybe Thursday. Or Saturday.

Out-of-control crashing satellites don’t lend themselves to exact estimates even for the precision-minded folks at NASA. The uncertainty about the “when” makes the “where” all the trickier, because a small change in the timing of the reentry translates into thousands of miles of difference in the crash site.

More at the link above, although, in the interest of fueling panic further, I’d like to add that, according to NASA estimates, only polar bears and Antarctic scientists are safe from the potential hit. The rest of us should perhaps keep an eye on the sky and, if you see junk the size of a school bus coming at you, perhaps running would be a good idea.

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