German satellite ROSAT is expected to fall directly on earth this weekend. A month ago, scientists and space experts were all worried about a deadly collision with the UARS satellite from NASA. ROSAT is another falling junk, that people should worry about.

A statement from the European Space Agency (ESA) claims that ROSAT has higher chances of hitting someone on earth. They predicted that the risk is 1 in every 2,000 chance that a piece of ROSAT satellite can directly knock out someone’s head.

They also put odds on NASA’s UARS satellite having 1 in 3200 chance that the satellite would hit someone. This is comparatively lower than ROSAT risks. Fortunately, the satellite crashed safely in the Pacific Ocean without hurting anyone.

Heiner Klinkrad, ESA’s space debris office head, believes that ROSAT has relative low chance of harming people.

“We accept risks in everyday life that are many orders of magnitude higher than the risks we incur from reentering space objects.” Klinkrad said.

Space experts aren’t really sure when and where the ROSAT satellite will crash. ESA predicted that the satellite will crash on Sunday morning but Klinkrad noted that the satellite can possibly land 24 hours earlier or later than expected.

The satellite’s orbit extends from 53 degrees north and south latitudes, which cover a huge width of the planet. With those measurements, ROSAT can possibly land anywhere in Canada to South America.

It was also reported that the German satellite will land the earth at a speed of 17,000 mph, considering that it weighs 2.4 tons. Though most parts are expected to disintegrate when ROSAT entered the earth’s atmosphere, the heat resistant mirror, which weighs 1.7 tons, is predicted to stay intact.

"Usually during re-entry, you have rather clear burning of all the elements, but glass and ceramics may survive and may come down in bigger pieces.” says Jan Woerner, head of Germany’s space agency Deutches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR).

ROSAT was originally expected to land in November. However, closer estimates showed that the spacecraft will fall on earth earlier than they previously thought.

"With satellites like ROSAT, you depend on external circumstances," says Woerner. "For instance, solar wind and changes in the atmosphere may change the time of re-entry. We just have to wait and observe."