A satellite will likely make an uncontrolled return through Earth’s atmosphere today, according to the latest estimates from the European Space Agency.
It says ERS-2, which weighs about as much as an adult male rhinoceros, is expected to re-enter at about 11:32 a.m. EST — plus or minus 4.6 hours. The agency can’t predict exactly when and where the satellite will re-enter because its return is “natural.”
Anything but metric
What’s this weird obsession with measuring everything in anything but metric? How am I supposed to know how much a rhino weighs?
Had they said 1500 - 2500kg it would have been clear as day.
But on a positive note I now know how much a rhino weighs.
To be fair, I actually find it more difficult to visualise 1500kg than a rhino (I just don’t normally interact with things on that scale), so it does help me in terms of knowing how big the satellite roughly is.
You dont normally interact with rhinos either.
But I know what one looks like, and I go to the zoo fairly regularly. I don’t know what a 1500kg weight looks like, because even for the things which are 1500kg, it’s not normally its defining characteristic.
A car is in the 1500 to 2000 kg range
TIL :)
It would be an avg car
It’s about a heavy car to a truck, that’s way easier to visualize a car than a rhino even without using metric
Yeah, agreed, but to be fair all of this is no longer criticism about why they didn’t use the metric system and actually acknowledges that people need visualisation sometimes.
Yup
A midsize sedan is about that weight.
I don’t know, how the hell am I supposed to know how many rhino’s 1500kg is?
One adult female rhino.
1.5 footbal field
I was just thinking when I fo to the zoo they have posters saying how much a rhino weighs because how would anyone intuitively know that.
It’s so stupid and also, is gat big for a satellite? I don’t know.
That’s it I’m giving you a 1/16th of an basketball
Ah, an adult rhino. A unit I work with on a daily basis and can easily comprehend, unlike arcane measurements of pounds or kilograms.
I assume we are talking about an unladen adult rhino… And why didn’t they specify the time in some understandable increment, for instance, it will re-enter in the time it would take a normal human to devour 18 triple cheeseburgers from the Burger King in Schenectady NY?
I just can’t imagine this impact… How many rhinos is the Earth and how many times faster than a cheetah will it be traveling??? Plus, really, how far even is space??? You could at least tell me how many CVS receipts or flea jumps away the satellite is.
Joke’s on you, CBS knew that using this odd measurement in their headline would provoke discussion which would spread the story a lot more widely.
AND LOOK, IT’S WORKING
Joke’s on you, I didn’t read the article. lol
I mean, I didn’t either. I’m just here to talk about the rhino comparison.
We’ve got to stick to the important matters, or we’ll never get anything done. I mean geeze, they didn’t even specify which kind of rhino!! I mean there are 5 living species White, Black, Indian, Javan, and Sumatran, that range in size from 700 to 3200kg. All of which I’ve just learned from wikipedia in the last few minutes. Standards, dammit, we need STANDARDS!! :-D
How aren’t people getting it yet? The use of wild and obscure weight references is the new clickbait?
It’s common in the US media.
What’s that in bananas? 🍌
About 12:30 PM
At least 1
This is factually correct
Bananas are for scale, not mass. Gah! (lol)
Threeve
Cavendish or Gros Michel?
Enough to be fairly radioactive.
Potassium, fiber, and banana flavoring.
Thief steals 1/100th of an adult rhino’s weight in bananas.
American adult? Or European adult?
How much is that in American football pitches?
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You kick footballs that’s why it has foot in it
But how fast was the rhinoceros traveling?
The speed of five Olympic-sized swimming pools.
That’s hotter than a Chevy Pinto!
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