German satellite crashes down somewhere in South-east Asia

A DEFUNCT German research satellite crashed to the Earth somewhere in South-east Asia yesterday – but no-one knows quite where.

Most parts of the ROSAT research satellite were expected to burn up as they hit the atmosphere at speeds of up to 280mph, but up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.87 tons could have crashed, the German Aerospace Centre said.

Calculations based on data made available to scientists by the US military indicate that satellite debris must have crashed somewhere east of Sri Lanka over the Indian Ocean, or over the Andaman Sea off the coast of Burma, or further inland in Burma or even as far inland as China.

The satellite entered the atmosphere in the early hours yesterday morning and would have taken 15 minutes or less to hit the ground, the German Aerospace Centre said.

There were no immediate reports from Asian governments or space agencies about the fallen satellite.

The satellite used to circle the planet in about 90 minutes, and it may have travelled several thousand miles during its re-entry, rendering exact predictions of where it crashed difficult.