1y ago

Satellite weighing as much as adult rhino to crash through Earth's atmosphere today

www.cbsnews.com Satellite weighing as much as adult rhino to crash through Earth's atmosphere today

A satellite weighing about as much as an adult male rhinoceros is set to re-enter Earth's atmosphere today, but scientists don't know exactly when or where.

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."

Anything But Metric @discuss.tchncs.de

Magicalus @discuss.tchncs.de

2mo ago

Adult Rhino

www.cbsnews.com /news/satellite-ers2-to-crash-through-earths-atmosphere-this-week/

5 0

43 comments

Anything but metric
- 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.
  
  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.
  
  I don't know, how the hell am I supposed to know how many rhino's 1500kg is?
- I was just thinking when I fo to the zoo they have posters saying how much a rhino weighs because how would anyone intuitively know that.
  It's so stupid and also, is gat big for a satellite? I don't know.
- That's it I'm giving you a 1/16th of an basketball

Ah, an adult rhino. A unit I work with on a daily basis and can easily comprehend, unlike arcane measurements of pounds or kilograms.
- I assume we are talking about an unladen adult rhino... And why didn't they specify the time in some understandable increment, for instance, it will re-enter in the time it would take a normal human to devour 18 triple cheeseburgers from the Burger King in Schenectady NY?
  
  I just can't imagine this impact... How many rhinos is the Earth and how many times faster than a cheetah will it be traveling??? Plus, really, how far even is space??? You could at least tell me how many CVS receipts or flea jumps away the satellite is.
- Joke's on you, CBS knew that using this odd measurement in their headline would provoke discussion which would spread the story a lot more widely.
  AND LOOK, IT'S WORKING
  
  Joke's on you, I didn't read the article. lol