6 Ton NASA Satellite Falling From the Sky

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), credit NASA MSFC

Sometime near Friday, September 23, 2011, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) will crash back to Earth.  UARS helped to define the role of the upper atmosphere in climate and climate variability, by measuring ozone and chemical compounds found in the ozone layer which affect ozone chemistry and processes.  UARS also helped characterize winds and temperatures in the stratosphere as well as the energy input from the Sun.  All of these helped better understand our upper atmosphere and Earth's climate.


It turns out that the this huge satellite may have some pieces which reach ground level.  Sounds exciting!  Don't touch though.  Space.com ran an article about how FEMA is on alert for any issues.  You can read it: FEMA Prepared for Dead NASA Satellite's Plunge to Earth This Week.

From the article, 

Numerically speaking it comes out to a chance of 1 in 3,200 that one person anywhere in the world might be struck by a piece of debris. "So those are actually, obviously, very, very low odds that anything — anybody is going to be impacted by this debris," Johnson added.

Pretty small odds indeed... unless you are the person that gets hit... actually, I think that seems like very large odds.  Given that 2/3 of the planet is covered by water, that number seems ridiculously high... anyone else have any thoughts about it?

EDIT: Thought I would update the article with my comment below in case someone doesn't read the comment.  The 1 in 3200 is integrated over the entire world population.  The odds for any individual is 1 in 2.1E13 or 1 in 21 Trillion.  Very small odd indeed.

13 year old uses Fibonocci sequence to increase solar array efficiency

So, every year the American Museum of Natural History has an award called the Young Naturalist Awards which "is a research-based science competition for students in grades 7-12 to promote participation and communication in science."

The spiral on trees showing the Fibonacci Sequence.

One of this years winners, Aidan, 13 year old from New York, investigated how high latitude trees used the Fibonocci sequence to boost solar collecting efficiency and applied this to the problem of solar array efficiency.  The Fibonocci sequence is 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,... you start with 0 and 1, then add the previous 2 numbers to obtain the next number in the sequence.  Fibonocci initially used it to describe the breeding habits of rabbits.

His essay, The Secret of the Fibonacci Sequence in Trees, is actually a really great read.  I found it extremely inspiring.  Here is this 13 year old kid, just letting his curiosity guide him, investigating how nature has solved a problem and applying it to the problems on mankind.  Brilliant! 

Diagram of tree model that Aidan made with his computer.

It also makes me feel much less worried about the future of the world.  Maybe as adults, we should listen to the kids more often, instead of shooing them off to play video games.  Something to remember as a parent and as a scientist.

NASA Space-based Images of Alabama Tornadoes

A combination of Visible and IR data of the EF-4 tornado track through Alabama.  Vegetation appears as pink, while teal shows the absence of Vegetation.  The giant swath going from lower left to upper right was the EF-4 tornado.

In an attempt to help the victims of the Alabama tornadoes, NASA has been investigating using its network of Earth sensing satellites to help define areas affected by tornadoes.  This is the first time NASA has attempted to use this specific instrument, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), to characterize tornado damage.  The picture above is a combination of a visible image and an infrared (IR) image.  The combination helps to define areas affected by determining where there is live vegetation.  This is especially useful in remote and rural areas.

Why would they be interested in doing this?  Well, it turns out that insurance companies use the National Weather Service data to determine whether or not someone has been effected by severe weather.  If you are in a remote area, where there may not be a lot of weather stations, your claim may not be accepted as part of the damage from a given storm.  (Or, that is the story I have been told. Someone out there is free to comment and clear up any misunderstanding I may have).  So, next time you might be tempted to think what has NASA, or for that matter Earth science, done to help regular folks, you can think of this story.

Read more about this story here: Unique Space Image of Alabama Tornado Tracks