What sort of satellite “it” is, they aren’t saying and “Where it lands nobody knows, well they may know but they aren’t saying if they do. Not to worry, Gordon Johndroe (really), a spokesman for the National Security Council said in a statement “Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation, numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause.” That makes you feel a lot better I bet, yeah sure.

There is some question of whether or not this is an experimental imagery satellite launched from Vandenburg AFB in December 2006. The story has it the satellite stopped responding to commands once it got into orbit and the orbit has been in decay ever since. A few days ago the satellite was in a circular orbit about 170 miles (275 km) up, and the orbit had decayed 9 to 12 miles (15 to 20 km) in the past month. At this decay rate it will be February or March before it re-enters the atmosphere.

The satellite is small compared to the largest uncontrolled re-entry of a spacecraft, that record belongs to the Skylab that weighed in at 78 tons. Even so this satellite is the size of a “small bus” and conceivably at least parts of it could survive re-entry. The main hazard besides the parts and pieces, is the fuel on board, Hydrazine. Hydrazine is used as propellant for in-space maneuvering of the satellite

We should hear something about where this thing will come down at some point down the road.

Sources: Yahoo News / NY Times / Reuters