UARS

Launch data: Designation 21701 / 91063B Launch date 12 Sep 1991 Launch site KSC, LC-39A Launch vehicle Shuttle STS-48 Mission Scientific:high atmosphere study Earth orbit: Perigee/Apogee 555/586 km Inclination 56.9° Period 96 min

CLAES (Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer)

HALOE (Halogen Occultation Experiment)

ISAMS (Improved Stratospheric and Mesospheric Sounder)

MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder)

HRDI (High Resolution Doppler Imager)

WINDII (Wind Imaging Interferometer)

PEM (Particule Environment Monitor)

SOLSTICE (Solar Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment)

SUSIM (Solar UV Spectral Irradiance Monitor)

ACRIM 2 (Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor)

Mission details:

• NASA's UARS satellite reentered on Sep 24, 2011. The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite was deployed in 1991 from the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-48. UARS studied the depletion of the ozone layer, confirming that CFCs cause the `ozone hole', and improved models of upper atmosphere chemistry, including studies of methane in the Antarctic, sulphur dioxide from volcanoes, and global wind measurements.
• UARS reportedly began entering the atmosphere over the Pacific but the exact time and location are not known. Reports of debris entry over Canada are unconfirmed, and my best conclusion bast on these estimates and the absence of confirmed observations over the west coast is that entry was probably over the Pacific SE to E of Hawaii around 0410-0415 UTC with the debris falling over a several hundred km range in the ocean falling short of the Oregon/Washington coastline.
• A new report on Space-Track gives the UARS satellite re-entry at 0400 UTC +/- 1 min over 14.1S 170.2W - in the SW Pacific near American Samoa.
  NASA's UARS site has also been updated to reflect this information. This is about 10-15 min earlier than previously estimated. This represents the beginning of re-entry, with a debris footprint extending up to 1000 km NE, making it almost certain that no debris reached the US coast.