Satellite hoax had debris falling over Alberta

In this handout from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is deployed from the Space Shuttle Discovery in September 14, 1991 in space. According to NASA, the 12,500 pound satellite will fall from orbit into earth's atmosphere anytime between September 22 through 24. It is estimated that the space craft will break up into about 100 pieces, with an estimated 26 of which could hit the earth over a possible 800 kilometre debris field
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OKOTOKS, Alta. — In a scene reminiscent of Orson Welles' famous War of the Worlds broadcast, an Internet hoax early Saturday had a NASA satellite the size of a bus crashing to Earth on a farm near Okotoks.

One Twitter report, originating from someone calling himself “Reporter Carl Phillips,” even described “debris found at the Wilmuth Farm,” and detailed tattered vegetation where a piece of orbiting space junk allegedly crashed.

Alas, it was all a complete fabrication.

NASA’s faltering Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite in fact fell out of orbit into the Pacific ocean off the U.S. West Coast sometime between 11:23 p.m. ET Friday and 1:09 a.m. the next day, the space agency reported Saturday.

In a teleconference on Saturday, NASA scientist Nicholas Johnson said it likely dropped out of the sky and into “the Pacific, a good deal away from the Western coast of the United States.”

But that didn’t stop the rumours that it had come down near Okotoks, just southwest of Calgary, from spreading like a prairie wildfire.

“Reporter Carl Phillips on the scene near Okotoks, AB,” tweeted. “Debris found at the Wilmuth Farm.” Phillips, an apparent local reporter, seemed to be accompanied by one Professor Pierson.

“The ground is covered with splinters of a tree it must have struck on its way down,” wrote the seemingly faithful scribe, even going so far as to include a radio transcript of the scene.

Astute followers would have hearkened back to Welles’ radio transmissions of the work of author H.G. Wells. His War of the Worlds, broadcast in 1938, panicked listeners who thought reports of the coming extraterrestrial invasions — complete with Martians landing at Wilmuth’s farm, vividly described by news reporter Carl Phillips — had journalistic, rather than fictional merit.

But still, accounts of the Okotoks satellite crash orbited the globe faster than the spacecraft itself.

RCMP Sgt. Patrick Webb said he fielded calls from reporters in Japan, England and across the U.S.

“As far as we can tell, this is one big hoax,” he said.

Likewise, the space agency said it had received no credible reports of either sightings or debris.

A YouTube video claiming to show lights moving in a darkened sky above the town was also quickly debunked.

“Somebody got it going really well and all they had to do was put the video out and many people around the world bit on it.”

During re-entry, the satellite passed from the east coast of Africa over the Indian Ocean, then the Pacific Ocean, then across northern Canada and the northern Atlantic Ocean to a point over West Africa, NASA said. The vast majority of the transit was over water, with some flight over northern Canada and West Africa.

As the satellite broke up in the atmosphere, scientists predicted up to 26 pieces weighing in total about 550 kilograms could shower the planet, spreading debris across a path 800 kilometres wide. NASA estimated a 1-in-3,200 chance of harm to human life.

As most of the Earth’s surface is ocean, the watery depths would prove to be the satellite’s most likely final destination. It’s possible the spacecraft hit the Earth sight unseen.

“There were several folks along the western coast of North America and the U.S. northwest and the Canadian southwest that were actually looking to observe UARS as it came over and every one of those attempts came up negative,” Johnson, of NASA, said. “That would suggest that re-entry did occur before it reached the North American coast and most of the debris fell into the Pacific.”

Alan Dyer, an astronomer at Calgary’s Telus World of Science was watching the skies Wednesday night, camera in hand.

He said his heart was crushed to have missed the sight.

“Oh yeah. The orbit, had it re-entered right over us heading into northern Canada, would have come straight over head,” he said. “It would have been a perfect night. It was clear. It would have been a spectacular sight.”

It would also have been difficult to miss, he said.

“If that had happened, certainly we would have had big reports of a fireball over Washington State and I don’t think there were any of those,” he said. “Something like that doesn’t go unobserved, or observed by only one or two people.”

UARS, launched in 1991, yielded during its working life some of the first long-term records of chemicals in the atmosphere. It was one of the largest space objects to drop through the atmosphere uncontrolled.

Johnson said NASA would continue to collect eyewitness reports of the satellite’s fall for the next several days. However, he said the agency “may never know” for certain where it landed if the debris did fall into the ocean.

The RCMP has also vowed to remain diligent.

“We’ve only apprehended three little green men,” quipped Webb, alluding to the extraterrestrial malefactors’ illegal parking proclivities. “We’ll get those little buggers yet.”