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U.S. Military Plans for Falling Satellite

by Evan Shamoon on January 31, 2008 at 09:01 AM

Spy Satellite Falling back to earth
It's cloudy with a chance of satellite parts.

The AP reports that the U.S. military is developing contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a very large spy satellite could hit planet Earth in late February or early March. Word on the street is that it could land somewhere in North America.

"We're aware that this satellite is out there," said Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart Tuesday. "We're aware it is a fairly substantial size. And we know there is at least some percentage that it could land on ground as opposed to in the water." Not all of the pieces, it seems, will burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.

The spy satellite was launched in December 2006, but almost immediately lost power -- and, unfortunately, it's not a remote control deal. It's apparently as big as a school bus, when it's in full Voltron formation. The picture above is of Russian satellite Mir coming back to earth.

Let's hope it doesn't hit a school bus. (Of course, with the chances being one in a trillion -- according to CNN, at least -- we wouldn't bet on it.

From CNN

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Tags: killer gadgets, KillerGadgets, space, space tech, SpaceTech

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