Duck and Cover day

[RSoles]

Now this will have been done before:-

BBC News - Who, What, Why: Can you dodge a falling satellite?

"The debris will include three batteries, four wheel rims and four fuel tanks, and their speed when they hit the ground or the ocean will vary. "

It's a satellite, why does it have wheels?

[MarillionFan]

Now this will have been done before:-

BBC News - Who, What, Why: Can you dodge a falling satellite?

"The debris will include three batteries, four wheel rims and four fuel tanks, and their speed when they hit the ground or the ocean will vary. "

It's a satellite, why does it have wheels?

In case aliens capture it and need to wheel it around their spaceship.

Duh.

[PRC1964]

Now this will have been done before:-

BBC News - Who, What, Why: Can you dodge a falling satellite?

"The debris will include three batteries, four wheel rims and four fuel tanks, and their speed when they hit the ground or the ocean will vary. "

It's a satellite, why does it have wheels?

Was it put up there by space gypsies? It'd fit in nicely at Dale Farm.

[MrRobin]

It's a satellite, why does it have wheels?

At risk of being berated for a sensible answer in general...

Most likely gyroscope wheels which would have been used to control the satellite's attitude

[TimberWolf]

I was more interested in the gold coated mylar reflective sheets. You can have the rims.

[Chaffinch]

At risk of being berated for a sensible answer in general...

Most likely gyroscope wheels which would have been used to control the satellite's attitude

How do I get hold of these here gyroscope wheels? My attitude stinks

[AtW]

What surprises me most is that NASA still can't accurately say where it will fall - you'd think long notice and observation plus fast super computers would allow them to do that.

[RSoles]

Ah but didn't they say ' Not over the continental USA'?

... so that's ok then....

[OwlHoot]

.. It'd fit in nicely at Dale Farm.

crash land

(The space station would have been even better, as long as it stayed in one piece on reentry.)

[TimberWolf]

What surprises me most is that NASA still can't accurately say where it will fall - you'd think long notice and observation plus fast super computers would allow them to do that.

It's the atmosphere that complicates things and no supercomputer can work out what that's doing