Undated artist rendering provided by EADS Astrium shows the scientific satellite ROSAT. Andreas Schuetz, a spokesman for the German Aerospace Center, said Saturday Oct. 22, 2011 the best estimate is still that the ROSAT scientific research satellite will impact sometime between late Saturday and Sunday 1200 GMT. (AP Photo/EADS Astrium)
(AP)
Updated 11:24 PM EST
BERLIN - A defunct satellite entered the earth's atmosphere early Sunday and pieces of it were expected crash to the Earth within hours, the German Aerospace Center said.
Pieces of the ROSAT scientific research satellite were expected to hit Sunday morning European time, or between about 0030 and 0530 GMT (between 8:30 p.m. EDT Saturday and 1:30 a.m. EDT Saturday), the agency said.
Most parts of the minivan-sized satellite were expected to burn up during re-entry into the atmosphere but up to 30 fragments weighing 1.87 tons (1.7 metric tons) could crash into Earth at speeds up to 280 mph (450 kph).
The satellite orbits every 90 minutes and it could hit almost anywhere along its path — a vast swath between 53-degrees north and 53-degrees south that comprises much of the planet outside the poles, including parts of North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
"According to the data we currently have, we expect it not to hit over Europe, Africa or Australia," agency spokesman Andreas Schuetz said. "The satellite is still orbiting and we are observing the data for other parts of the world," he added.
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