[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15023115

Fragments from a satellite falling to Earth are expected to land on Friday. So is it possible to take evasive action?

A six-tonne satellite is expected to crash land in the next 24 hours, scattering debris over an area of the planet's surface up to 500km (310 miles) wide.

Nasa, which owns the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), estimates it will break into about 26 parts, the heaviest weighing about 158kg, which is equivalent to a very large person.

The debris will include three batteries, four wheel rims and four fuel tanks, and their speed when they hit the ground or the ocean will vary.

The rims, for example, could reach speeds of 107 metres per second (240mph), which is faster than one of France's high-speed TGV trains and 10 times quicker than Usain Bolt.

So is it possible for humans to ensure they don't get hit?

"Potentially, you could get out of the way," says Richard Crowther of the UK Space Agency, which is a member of a global network of agencies that monitors space debris.

"But if you're going to spend all the time looking up then you're at greater risk of an accident bumping into something than something coming down on you."

Equally, if you want to avoid the risk of being hit completely, he says, then you need to go beyond 57 degrees latitude north (Scotland or Quebec) or south (further south than the southern tip of Argentina).

"But travelling there will involve a greater risk than the risk of being hit by this."

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