The GOCE satellite disintegrates high in the sky
A ONE tonne satellite that was plummeting toward earth went into meltdown as it entered our planet's atmosphere.
THE one-tonne GOCE satellite that was freefalling towards Earth on a crash course gave everyone a sigh of relief today as it burned up in the atmosphere at its predicted re-entry time of 11:50am-12:50pm.
According to the ESA it entered on "a descending orbit pass that extended across Siberia, the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean and Antarctica. As expected, the satellite disintegrated in the high atmosphere and no damage to property has been reported."
The Gravity Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite was sent into space in March 2009 on a mission to monitor variations in gravity and sea levels.
But on October 21 this year the sleek-finned craft ran out of fuel, leaving it without power to maintain its altitude in low orbit.
The GOCE has been freefalling from an altitude of around 160km, according to the European Space Agency.
The ESA estimated the re-entry window to be around 12.50pm on Monday 11 and voyeurs were able to observe via real-time trackers.
The Twittersphere has gone into overdrive as people speculate as to where the satellite will hit, if they should run for cover or whether KFC will be still be open.
TRACK THE SATELLITE IN REAL TIME
But don't fret. The chances of you getting hit by a chunk of the satellite are close to zero. ESA spacecraft operations manager Christoph Steiger says the chances of a human being hit were about 65,000 times lower than getting struck by lightning.
Though it has happened before.
In 1997, Lottie Williams was walking in a park in Tulsa, Oklahoma when she was hit on the shoulder by a piece of metal. The metal was later confirmed to be a piece of a Delta II rocket, reported Oklahoma's local news station.
Ms Williams was not injured in that incident, but said she was really scared when she felt something fall on her shoulder.
"You will not hear it coming, you just have to see it heading for you," she told Oklahoma's News on 6.
"I guess I was in the right or wrong place at the right or wrong time, I haven't decided yet".
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