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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[–] BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world 79 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ah, an adult rhino. A unit I work with on a daily basis and can easily comprehend, unlike arcane measurements of pounds or kilograms.

[–] FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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?

[–] thefartographer@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

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.

[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] ForestOrca@kbin.social 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Joke's on you, I didn't read the article. lol

[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean, I didn't either. I'm just here to talk about the rhino comparison.

[–] ForestOrca@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago

We've got to stick to the important matters, or we'll never get anything done. I mean geeze, they didn't even specify which kind of rhino!! I mean there are 5 living species White, Black, Indian, Javan, and Sumatran, that range in size from 700 to 3200kg. All of which I've just learned from wikipedia in the last few minutes. Standards, dammit, we need STANDARDS!! :-D