Russia’s doomed Mars Probe, Phobos-Grunt is going to come crashing back into the Earth’s atmosphere in late January, and it is entirely possible that dozens of pieces may survive the reentry according to scientists.

Russian scientists are supposedly hard at work trying to figure out what is going to happen when the 14 tons satellite  comes crashing back to Earth.

Phobos-Grunt was launched in November but failed to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. Phobos -Grunt was supposed to land on Phobos, one of Mars Moon and bring back rock samples.

A big problem with the reentry is that a good portion of the Phobos-Grunt probe’s weight is highly toxic rocket fuel.  As of this point it is impossible to estimate what pieces of the probe will survive or where they will land.

According to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office, most of the probe will not survive the heat of the reentry.  Due to the fact that most of the earth is covered by water or uninhabited land the likelyhood of damage is very remote. To date there have been no incidences of anyone being hurt by space junk.

The Phobos-Grunt probe is one of the costlier mistakes made by the Russian Space agency in recent times.  The cost of the mission was expected to exceed $250 million dollars.  By comparison, the United States’ Mars program is estimated ot cost around $8.5 billion.

The US had to shoot down a satellite before it reentered the atmosphere a few years ago due to the fact that is was carrying the same type of fuel that the Phobos-Grunt is carrying.  Like the Phobos-Grunt it was encased in a titanium tank which has the ability to survive reentry.

What do you think Russia and the US should do about the Phobos-Grunt?

Phobos-Grunt, Toxic Russian Mars Probe To Crash to Earth in January is a post from: The Inquisitr

A helicopter carrying tourists crashed yesterday in NYC’s East River, killing a woman and injuring three other passengers.

In a city with a dark history of aviation disasters (and near-misses), Tuesday’s accident occurred just after the helicopter took off from the 34th Street heliport at around 3:30pm. Speaking to reporters, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the dead woman had been trapped in the sinking craft. Four others who were on the helicopter escaped.

Bloomberg confirmed that some of the five people on board were related to one other. Two are in critical condition in Bellevue Hospital, and a third is in serious condition New York University Hospital. The pilot was successfully treated at the scene. Bloomberg talked the press through the accident:

“The pilot reported having trouble keeping aloft, and he tried to turn back but crashed into the water just north of the landing pad. Four out of the five got out on their own, the fifth got trapped.”

The survivors were aided in the water by emergency services personnel and police officers who jumped into the river. A police scuba team later recovered the body of the trapped woman.

The passengers have been confirmed as a British couple and two Australian friends. They include Paul Nicholson, 71, his wife Harriett Nicholson, 60, and her daughter, Sonia Marra, 40. Marra’s friend, also 40, was the fourth passenger. It is not yet known which passenger died.

Mayor Bloomberg praised the responses of emergency services, describing it as “everything you could ask for.” The helicopter was a Bell 206B, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration records.

NYC Helicopter Crash Kills Female Passenger is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve been kind of following the coming Chicken Little moment when the UARS satellite comes crashing to earth, the only problem is that we have no clue as to where that final moment will happen.

As Dan Evon here at The Inquisitr noted in a post earlier

NASA has been updating the satellite’s progress all week as they monitor its path to earth. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite was orbiting 100 miles above earth this morning, and NASA expects the satellite to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere later tonight.

But the organization still doesn’t know where the UARS satellite will land. They did say, however, that it was possible for the satellite to hit the United States.

Well AGI the makers of an augmented reality app for the Android smartphone and tablets, called Satellite AR, already has a rather cool app that lets you know what satellites are passing over head at any given time by just pointing your phone, or tablet, at the sky overhead. Now in light of this impending flame-out of UARS the company has added a temporary button to their app that will let you keep track of the satellite’s impeding demise.

You can grab a copy of the app as well as instruction on how to use it from the AGI site.

via Crave

Android users safe from crashing NASA satellite thanks to an app for the phone and tablet is a post from: The Inquisitr

Gran Turismo 5 just got a little less “boring and sterile” with the arrival of a new patch for car damage.

1UP reports that the free downloadable update introduces three levels of car damage in the game, though whether any of them are quite as jaw-dropping as F1 2010‘s spectacular smashes is yet to be seen.

A small disclaimer here: damage can only be switched on in the “Lounge” section of the game’s main menu, while the Campaign or Arcade modes don’t have it.

As Campaign is the meat of this very meaty game, that’s a little odd, but perhaps damage will be enabled elsewhere in a future patch, of which there will probably be many: developer Polyphony Digital has already promised an option to remove the in-game HUD and YouTube replay uploads in upcoming updates.

[Via 1UP]

Gran Turismo 5 finally gets a damage patch is a post from: The Inquisitr

“Ugh, just die already.” – Luke Skywalker

Star Wars: Longest crash ever is a post from: The Inquisitr

The footage is the ruined aircraft is being covered around the world, but being the age of YouTube naturally the crash itself would appear to have been recorded live as week; the footage is grainy and the audio not in English, but there’s a distinct crash noise as the plane heads down the runway and doesn’t take off.
More mainstream coverage for those interested as follows:

Kalitta Boeing 747 Crash Video is a post from: The Inquisitr