A European satellite that mapped Earth’s gravitational field in exquisite detail will be sent careening down to earth in a ball of flaming metal by the very forces it helped scientists study.  Also, no one knows when or where it’s going to hit. 

The European Space Agency’s Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite ran out of gas last month, and its orbit is decaying at a rate of two and a half miles a day. 

“Concretely our best engineering prediction is now for a re-entry on Sunday, with a possibility for it slipping into early Monday,” said Rune Floberghagen, GOCE’s mission manager.

As many as 45 fragments of the bird are expected to survive the stress of reentry and strike the earth’s surface – the largest could weigh more than 90 kilograms.  But Floberghagen adds that the debris will endanger only about 15 to 20 square yards of the Earth’s surface.

“If you compare that to the surface of the planet, it’s a very small number,” he said.

Unless you just happen to be enjoying your brekkies on that spot.