That Crashing Satellite Narrowly Avoided Wrecking Chinese Cities

Good news! The ROSAT satellite didn’t destroy all humans. Most of it just burned up in the atmosphere, as expected — but not all of it! Nearly two tons of German space junk hit the ocean — and almost China.

ROSAT’s watery grave is believed to be Asia’s Bay of Bengal (between India and Thailand), MSNBC reports. But had the satellite remains continued to stream downward for a few minutes more, their course would have been right around Chongqing and Chengdu — Chinese cities with millions of residents each. What happens when two tons of metal space chunks collide with a dense urban area? Destruction and probably people dying in a fiery manner. This would have been quite bad. Luckily, the naughty sat is in the great blue deep, and not in the middle of someone’s living room. Now let’s all count down until the next satellite crash alert! [MSNBC]