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| STUPED ITALIA |
| [21504] by "machine gun max" (208-58-253-16.s524.tnt1.nwhv.ct.dialup.rcn.com) on Mon 28 Apr 2003 17:14:54 [ reply ] |
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((GUYS look 4 secret mentionings of ISAno and BSAno:]
Italy Warns 39 Countries Satellite Could Hit Them Reuters Apr 28 2003 3:16PM ROME (Reuters) - Italy said on Monday it had alerted 39 countries to the risk that a satellite it deactivated last year could crash in their territory within the next 48 hours. The 3,100-pound satellite was expected to fall to earth between 5:10 p.m. GMT on April 29 and 2 p.m. GMT on April 30 somewhere in a band straddling the equator that would include Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Italian Space Agency said it was keeping all 39 countries up to date on the uncontrolled re-entry of the BeppoSAX satellite, but there was a higher probability it would fall into one of the oceans than on land. The satellite should explode into about 140 pieces, with only 700 kg expected to remain solid and potentially posing a threat, the agency said. But it said it was impossible to assess in advance how much damage might be caused. "We have taken measures unprecedented in the world to prepare ourselves and the countries concerned to this phenomenon," Vincenzo Spaziante, head of a special task force set up three months ago, told a news conference in Rome. The satellite was fueled by hydrazine but engineers said the fuel had been used up and posed no problem. Spaziante, whose task force is constantly monitoring the satellite's trajectory, said Italy was prepared to send civil protection experts to any countries needing assistance. The Brazilian Space Agency said last week the satellite could crash in the Amazon jungle, but Italy said there was no way of telling yet where it would land in the band around the earth stretching four degrees either side of the equator. Spaziante said the international community should set up permanent structures to deal with uncontrolled re-entries by satellites. The BeppoSAX, launched in 1996 to monitor space radiation, is owned by the Italian Space Agency. It was built by Alenia Aeronautica, a unit of state-controlled defense group Finmeccanica. Previous uncontrolled re-entries have included a 7,100-pound U.S. satellite that plummeted to earth over central Egypt in January 2002. It is not known whether any debris struck the ground. The Russian space station Mir was ditched into the Pacific Ocean in 2001 after 15 years of service, but that was a controlled descent. 04/28/03 15:14 ET |
