A Russian spacecraft which suffered a catastrophic engine failure during launch could crash land near Watford this weekend.
The Russian Phobos-Grunt mission, which has been stuck orbiting the Earth since November 9 last year, is due to crash land some time between Sunday and Monday.
The spacecraft was designed to visit Mars and its moon Phobos, but was unable to fire its main engine during take-off.
According to the UK Space Agency, the craft is due to re-enter the atmosphere somewhere between 51.4 degrees north, the approximate location of Watford, and 51.4 degrees south, near the the Falkland Islands.
The spacecraft is a two-stage Zenit rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and is expected to largely break-up during re-entry.
The aluminium fuel tanks should melt, and any unused fuel will be dispersed in the upper atmosphere.
In September the Watford Observer reported how there was an “insignificant” chance that the Nasa UARS satellite would crash into the town.
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