Good Luck Pittsburg

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/01/29/chance-satellites-collide-over-pittsburgh/

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The chance that two satellites on a possible collision course collide over Pittsburgh has increased.

What was a one in 100 chance has increased to a one in 20 chance that two satellites collide 900 km above Pittsburgh Wednesday night.

LeoLabs, which tracks space debris, first put out the alert along with a visualization of the event on Tuesday. The predicted collision is expected to happen around 6:30 to 6:40.

4/ Adjusting our calculations to account for larger object sizes (by increasing our combined Hard Body Radius from 5m to 10m), this yields an updated collision probability closer to 1 in 20.

— LeoLabs, Inc. (@LeoLabs_Space) January 29, 2020

One satellite is roughly the size of a trash can, about 10 pounds. The other is the size of a small car. They’re headed straight for each other at more than 10 times the speed of a bullet.

“These are actual space ships that could collide in space. Sure they’re unmanned and they’ve been not operational for a while,” Ralph Crewe with Bulh Planetarium and Observatory, Carnegie Science Center told KDKA Tuesday.

According to LeoLabs, one of the two satellites is a decommissioned space telescope that launched in 1983, and the other is an experimental U.S. Payload that launched in 1967.

Crewe brought KDKA’s cameras up to the roof at the Carnegie Science Center to talk about what this means for Pittsburghers on the ground.

“It’s not guaranteed that it’s going to collide, but if it does, any fragments that fall to earth are going to hit the atmosphere at tremendous speed and burn up, much like a shooting star,” he says. “In fact, if you do see anything, it will look sort of like a burst of shooting stars almost.”

There’s no need to panic. If these satellites do collide, we’re not in any trouble.

KDKA Meteorologist Ray Petelin says that if the satellites did crash and the debris did fall, it wouldn’t land in Pittsburgh. He says the earth is rotating around 1,000 mph at the Equator, so Pittsburgh won’t be under the debris by the time it hits the ground.

“Thankfully, it is relatively safe. Nobody on earth has any chance of taking any damage from this, so it will just be an amazing show in the sky,” said Crewe.

OOooo!  Fun!

The complete chaos would be the satellites creating a debris cloud that gets into other orbits creating an ever increasing amount of space junk as more satellites collide with more space junk.

Land in my yard, I'll auction debris on Ebay.

In reply to Rons :

Interstellar Demo Derby sounds like my new favorite extreme sport. 

Fall on heinz field

Fall on the berkeleyers house that's trying to buy the shop I'm trying to buy!

Hitchbot's friends are getting their revenge.

Hopefully neither has a plutonium power source.  

We need to ask Sandra Bullock how to deal with the debris cloud.  

I understand that it was a movie, but the premise seemed reasonable...I mean the debris cloud, not the survival.  Garbage is getting plentiful up there, and it seems reasonable that something is gonna run into something else eventually.  Is there a potential cascade effect that causes trouble?

Your title made me wonder what bad thing might happen to Pittsburg KS but the text assured me that it was that other town instead. Sigh of relief. 

Woody said:

 

One satellite is roughly the size of a trash can, about 10 pounds. The other is the size of a small car. They’re headed straight for each other at more than 10 times the speed of a bullet.

I thought we used grapefruit for size comparison. 

Streetwiseguy said:

We need to ask Sandra Bullock how to deal with the debris cloud.  

I understand that it was a movie, but the premise seemed reasonable...I mean the debris cloud, not the survival.  Garbage is getting plentiful up there, and it seems reasonable that something is gonna run into something else eventually.  Is there a potential cascade effect that causes trouble?

Planetes, if you like anime.

Matthew

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I read that that it's a possibility with low probability.

They apparently missed each other, as there was no sign of any post-impact debris. 

Be careful everyone 

You forgot the h so I wasn't concerned about this thread. Now I see it is the real Pittsburgh. I'll be on the lookout tonight. 

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

H

ShawnG said:

Woody said:

 

One satellite is roughly the size of a trash can, about 10 pounds. The other is the size of a small car. They’re headed straight for each other at more than 10 times the speed of a bullet.

I thought we used grapefruit for size comparison. 

I think that's for tumors.

Streetwiseguy said:

We need to ask Sandra Bullock how to deal with the debris cloud.  

I understand that it was a movie, but the premise seemed reasonable...I mean the debris cloud, not the survival.  Garbage is getting plentiful up there, and it seems reasonable that something is gonna run into something else eventually.  Is there a potential cascade effect that causes trouble?

there is a reason the Space Shuttle used to "fly" backwards in orbit. It was to keep the debris from damaging the cockpit windows

Scotty Con Queso said:

You forgot the h so I wasn't concerned about this thread. Now I see it is the real Pittsburgh. I'll be on the lookout tonight. 

The good Pittsburg is modern, sleek, and not wasting space with useless H's.  The other one is out east somewhere or whatever.

fasted58 said:

Land in my yard, I'll build a Challenge car out of it.

I know I'm not the only one that's disappointed that the two objects apparently passed each other, like two ships in the night, and failed to collide?