Dead German...

satellite will fall to Earth this week.  Yes, another defunct spacecraft will spiral out of orbit in a fiery re-entry.  Déjà vu all over again.

Launched in 1990 by NASA, and operated by the German Aerospace Center, ROSAT will re-enter Earth's atmosphere around the 22nd or 23rd of October according to best estimates. As many as 30 individual pieces could survive, with the largest single fragment likely being the telescope's mirror, weighing as much as 1.7 metric tons.  Updates on the decaying orbit are available here: ROSAT re-entry. 

I wonder if the high-risk insurance underwriter Lloyds of London offers policies for falling space debris?  There seems to be a growing market these days.  (Here's a related previous post.)