NASA satellite heads home for the weekend

NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is expected to make a splash landing on late Friday evening/early Saturday morning.

Scientists are currently unsure where the satellite will enter the atmosphere but they claim they will have more of an idea in the final 12 hours before the satellite is due to return.

Using data from Thursday afternoon, experts believe the satellite could splash down in the Southern Ocean but this is likely to change.

However, the satellite will probably land in one of the world’s oceans based on the fact 70 per cent of the planet is covered with water.

Dr Stuart Eves, a satellite and space expert, told the BBC that a satellites lifetime can only be predicted with 10 per cent accuracy and there are large uncertainties in tracking the ‘decay’ of satellite orbits.

NASA claims the risk to life is 1 in 3,200 but this is three times more than the 1 in 10,000 risk that NASA usually aims for.