Space satellite debris to fall outside Brunei and Sabah
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Debris from an Italian-Dutch space satellite may hit Indonesia, Singapore, West Malaysia and Sarawak in April with a remote chance that Brunei Darussalam and Sabah may also be hit by the falling fragments. The Indonesian National Aeronautics and Space Agency (LAPAN) in its website stated debris from the satellite was expected to re-enter the atmosphere on April 19 and its fragments would likely fall along the equator in this region.

BeppoSAX weighs 1,600 kilogrammes (3,520 pounds) and 47 percent of it would fall to the earth over an area of 320 kilometres (198 miles) by 42 kilometres around the equator, the agency said.

The tip of Brunei Darussalam in Belait District is about 445.8 kilometres from the equator and so this country is barely away (about 195.8 kilometres) from the estimated area the fragments would fall.

Most likely hit are Indonesia's regions of Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua, Malaysian states of Johore, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Selangor and Sarawak, and Singapore.

According to LAPAN, exposure to toxic substances from the battery and fuel of the BeppoSAX satellite could be fatal. It stated that The Italian Space Agency played down the risk.

The satellite, which has been out of control since April last year, is expected to break into 42 fragments.

The debris are expected to reach the earth will hit the ground at a speed of between 60 and 460 kilometres per hour.

LAPAN said the office had coordinated with the national disaster control agency to take necessary measures.

Italy will pay for any damages caused by the falling fragments, it said.

Meanwhile, the Italian Space Agency said on its BeppoSAX website that the risk of anyone being hit by a fragment from the satellite was less than one in 5,000.

It said that in 40 years more than 1,400 tonnes of material is believed to have survived re-entry with no reported casualties.

The website acknowledged that hydrazine fuel and battery chemicals were toxic and should be avoided.

It said its latest prediction for a re-entry date was May 2.

The X-ray astronomy satellite was launched in 1996 but has been switched off since April last year.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin