this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
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Satellite weighing as much as adult rhino to crash through Earth's atmosphere today (www.cbsnews.com)
submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world
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A satellite will likely make an uncontrolled return through Earth's atmosphere today, according to the latest estimates from the European Space Agency.

It says ERS-2, which weighs about as much as an adult male rhinoceros, is expected to re-enter at about 11:32 a.m. EST — plus or minus 4.6 hours. The agency can't predict exactly when and where the satellite will re-enter because its return is "natural."

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[–] CAVOK@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago (11 children)

What's this weird obsession with measuring everything in anything but metric? How am I supposed to know how much a rhino weighs?

Had they said 1500 - 2500kg it would have been clear as day.

But on a positive note I now know how much a rhino weighs.

[–] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago (7 children)

To be fair, I actually find it more difficult to visualise 1500kg than a rhino (I just don't normally interact with things on that scale), so it does help me in terms of knowing how big the satellite roughly is.

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world -1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You dont normally interact with rhinos either.

[–] Sentrovasi@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But I know what one looks like, and I go to the zoo fairly regularly. I don't know what a 1500kg weight looks like, because even for the things which are 1500kg, it's not normally its defining characteristic.

[–] xkforce@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago

A car is in the 1500 to 2000 kg range

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