Is debris from a 2,500-ton Russian satellite going to fall over the UAE tonight

There have been ongoing reports that debris from Cosmos 1484, a Soviet remote sensing satellite launched in 1983, is about to hit the earth, and that it will enter the atmosphere right above the GCC, somewhere on the UAE.



According to rumours doing the rounds on the Internet, millions of pieces of this debris could fall anywhere in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Yemen – or all of them.

However, the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIST) has rubbished claims that debris could actually reach the surface of the earth, claiming that friction will burn it off before it reaches the UAE even if it does happen to get into the atmosphere above the region.

“EIAST has analysed the reported threat posed by a Russian satellite, called COSMOS 1484, re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, which some claim will fall in or around UAE territory,” the EIAST, a Dubai government organization, said in a note.

Allaying any fears that residents might harbor, it said that the entry of such debris into the earth’s atmosphere was commonplace but posed no threat whatsoever.

“EIAST wishes to ensure the public that such an occurrence poses virtually no threat since the friction caused by re-entry into the atmosphere causes the satellite to break down into pieces and burn out. Every few days such space debris enters the atmosphere and is destroyed. For COSMOS 1484, the same is anticipated,” the organization said in its note.

EIAST further added that satellite was launched by the Soviet Union in 1983. “The payload was meant for gathering scientific information about Earth. It weighs around 2,500 tonnes,”