Earth is often described as the “blue planet”. Photograph courtesy of NASA
A decommissioned Soviet military satellite from the 1980s is expected to come crashing down to earth today, and reportedly represents a “very real danger” to densely populated areas.
The Kosmos-1220 will begin its uncontrolled descent today and whilst much of the estimated three tonne satellite will burn up on re-entry into the atmosphere, large fragments will still impact the Earth.
The debris is expected to impact in the Pacific Ocean, with little impact on human life, but external factors could push it off course and threaten densely populated areas, which Astronomy magazine editor David Eicher descrobed to Fox News as “a very real danger”.
The surface of the Earth is mostly water, with densely populated cities only taking up a fraction of the land area, so impact in the oceans is most likely. However, without any form of guidance or propulsion system, impact on more populated areas cannot be ruled out.
