The Sky’s Falling

So Sunday night while doing my midnight recharge, just in case some major world catastrophe happens between sleeping and waking up, various news media (Time, AOL, Associated Press) were reporting that a HUGE 7,000 pound space craft was falling to the Earth. But don’t worry, cause they are not sure where it’s going to hit! Right….people please.
But in cause you’re a hypochondriac, crazy, obsessive worrier like I am here are the details.
Back in December 2006 an “unnamed” US spy satellite was launched into space. Things were going well and it even reached its orbit destination. Needless to say, it suffered a breakdown and lost communication with its controllers here on Earth. According to a report on Time.com John McDowell, an astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is quoted as saying “it’s not necessarily dead, but it’s deaf.” But in my eyes a deaf satellite could be just as dangerous as a dead one. Without proper communication channels this spy satellite becomes a raging fireball colliding with the Earth’s atmosphere at around 17,000 mph.
But my little budding science geeks, don’t fret…the purpose of the Earth’s atmosphere is to PROTECT us. There are already thousands of pounds of debris floating around and being diverted by our wonderful friend Gravity.