Satellite Ends Fall, Likely in the Pacific

(The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, which fell to Earth late Friday or early Staurday, as it deployed from the space shuttle in 1991.)

A dead NASA satellite, intently tracked by people around the world over the last couple of days, finally fell back to Earth - and it may turn out that no one will ever know when and where it fell.

One its final orbital trajectory, the six-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite passed to the south of Australia and then headed to the northeast across the Pacific toward Vancouver, British Columbia. The air Force's Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, which tracks space debris, predicted re-entry at 12:16 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday over the northeastern pacific.

While NASA did receive reports of people who saw lights in the sky that they thought were pieces of the disintegrating satellite, none of them occurred at a time and place where the satellite would have been passing by, and people looking at the correct time and place did not see anything.

Mr. Cole said NASA was awaiting more details form the Joint Space Operations Center. There were no reports of damage of injuries.

The satellite had been expected to re-enter Friday afternoon, but its rate of fall slowed.

At least 26 pieces, the largest at 330 pounds, had been expected to survive the plunge and land along a path 500 miles long.

NASA had forecast a 1-in-3,200 risk that debris from the satellite could injure someone.

There are no known instance of anyone being injured by falling space debris (though in 1997, a woman in Oklahoma was brushed by a piece of mesh from a Delta 2 rocket booster that did her no harm). When the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry in 2003, the seven astronauts aboard died, but no one on the ground was hurt as 42.5 tons of debris showered down from West Texas to southwest Louisiana.

The UARS satellite was launched in 1991 by the space shuttle Discovery and was decommissioned in 2005, when it was placed into a lower orbit so it would not cause any problem for the International Space Station.

Tags: "Most of these things come down in the water, that's why we never see them".

Nano car bursts into flames in India (AFP)

NEW DELHI -- India's Tata Motors launched an inquiry on Monday after another of its Nano hatchbacks -- billed as the world's cheapest car -- caught fire in unexplained circumstances.

The Nano, hailed in 2008 as a car that world revolutionist transport in India, has suffered disappointing sales due to safety concerns, production glitches and slowing economic growth.

"A Nano car caught fire on Sunday in New Delhi. We have rushed a team engineers to investigate the accident. The probe is a time-consuming process," Tata Motors spokesman Debasis Ray told AFP.

The company would be in touch with the owner of the car, he said.

The Times of India reported that two brothers had managed to escape after the car burst into flames.

Last year, the firm was forced to offer free safety upgrades after several Nanos caught fire in various incidents, but it has always maintained that the car has no safety problems.

The cheapest no-frills Nano model cost about $2,500.

Tags: The cheapest no-frills Nano model cost about $2,500 (AFP/File).

NEW DELHI -2G issue: BJP now targets PM over Maran's Letter

After going hammer and tongs at home minister P Chidambaram 2G spectrum scam, the BJP has now trained guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over a letter written to him by former telecom minister DayanidhiMaran asking him to stay off spectrum pricing issue.

(Former textile minister and DMKI leader Dayanidhi Maran forced Aircel owner to sell to a Malaysian firmduing histenure He resigned form the union cabinet.)

The letter allegedly suggests that it was the Prime Minister himself who had allowed the telecom minister to keep spectrum pricing out of the terms of reference of the Group of the Group of Ministers in 2006.

In January 2006, the PM had approved, in principle, a GoM to look into the release of additional spectrum from the defence ministry for private telecom players. The group's terms of reference included the issue of pricing of scarce 2G Spectrum.


The GoM was supposed to submit its recommendations in June 2006, after which the government was to decide a policy and price for selling the spectrum.

Prime Minister met Dayanidhi Maran of February 1 and then he allegedly allowed the Telecom Ministry to keep out of 2G pricing.

Referring to the letter, BJP spokesperson Prakash Jayadekar said that the Prime Minister owes an explanation to the nation as it is not a matter of being a mute spectator, but of complicity.

BJP's allegations com three days ahead of PMO's explaination of its stand on record to the Supreme Court.

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Shoaib reveals Pak cricket team's dressing room squabbles

Controversial speedster Shoaib Akhtar has provided an insight into infighting that has always dogged Pakistan cricket team, recalling how greats like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were at loggerheads.

In his tell-all autobiography, 'Controversially Yours', Shoaib described in detail the tension in the dressing room caused at one stage by a feud between Wasim and Waqar. The pacer also claimed that senior players ganged up against him in his debut Test leaving him demoralised.

The feud between Wasim and Waqar took place prior to the Asian Test Championship match in Kolkata (1999) that led to his selection for the Eden Test. "...Meanwhile, we lost the Delhi Test and Wasim got into an argument with Waqar. It got so bad that rumour started doing rounds that Waqar was to be sent back home," the bowler writes.

"But the entire squad left for Kolkata for the first Test of the Championship. Inside the dressing room, things got uglier. I do not remember it but ever being as tense as it was then," he revealed.

"The two seniors were at war and we were a young and fresh team. Everyone was stressed out and amidst all this, it was decided that I would play." He alleged that some Pakistan players "ganged up" against him during his debut Test match against the West Indies in Rawalpindi back in 1997.

"What can I tell you about my first Test match! The one I had prepared for all my life. Wasim Akram was the captain and he told the board he wouldn't play Shoaib come what may," he claimed.

"Perhaps he wished to continue with the previous team because he was satisfied with its performance or perhaps he didn't want to encourage the emergence of new fast bowler."

Shoaib further stated that Wasim even threatened to quit if he was selected in the playing XI. "The Pakistan Cricket Board had announced that I would play and team's captain responded by threatening to quit if I did. But the board held on. So Wasim pushed the issue further and said five other members of the team were threatening not to play if Shoaib was allowed to.

"There was a division in the team before the match started, and a controversy arose in which I unwittingly played a part." Shoaib recollected his first day in international cricket when his own teammates weren't exactly cordial with him.

"We were to field first and I nervously got ready to go out on to the ground. The atmosphere in the dressing room was horrible; the rest of the team ganged up against me and made things as uncomfortable as they possibly could, peppering every phrase aimed at me with abuses," he alleged.

"The result was that I felt messed up and terribly unsure of myself. This feeling heightened as the day wore on and I wasn't asked to bowl even once. I did get my first chance after lunch and got two wickets, but I knew that I had under-performed.

"I just couldn't shake off the tension that had built up in me, and as a result I bowled far below my own standards.I remember feeling that perhaps I wasn't good enough to play at this level. I was completely demoralized and my dreams seemed to lie shattered around me," he recalled.

The controversial pacer then spoke about his spat with the then captain Waqar during the 2003 World Cup where Pakistan couldn't even make it to the last four stage. "Even though I have taken a fiver against Kenya and wickets in almost all the matches, that we played, it was not enough for us to win the Cup. The dressing room reflected what was happening to us on the field. Tempers were short and fights and squabbles kept breaking out.

"Once again, we were on the losing side, that is never conducive to Pakistani team spirit. The whole lot of us were rubbing each other the wrong way and I got involved in a verbal conflict with Waqar, which of course was the only thing board remembered later -- not my record, mind you. I was sacked along with other players, including Waqar," Shoaib wrote.

Shoaib claimed that top performers in Pakistan cricket are never valued. "If you ask me, Pakistan has everything but 'qadar', the ability to value what we have. Allah has given us both a gift and a curse and the curse is that we will never be valued by our own whether we are in politics or sports," he alleged.

"Benazir (Bhutto) was shot dead -- whoever wants to work for the good of the nation is bound to be finished. We have produced outstanding players in squash and hockey and have consistently produced valuable cricketers.

"Ironically, eighty percent of our population, the proverbial man on the street, loves us deeply but the twenty percent who are in power don't care," he said. Shoaib said it is high time that well-performing players are protected.

"When are we going to start looking after those people who have played for the country? Yes, the country has given so much to us, but we too have given it reasons to be proud of us. But we are never recognised; Mujhe aitraaz hai is baat par -- this is my objection and complaint.

"When will there be a change in the attitude towards players. When will they stop insulting them? Kab tak zalil karte rahenge? Humare jitne bhi star hain, sab zalil hoke nikle hain," he said.