By ANNE BESTON
Police stations around the country have updated their procedures on what to do if a piece of space junk is headed their way.
As doomed Russian space station Mir moves towards its final destination in the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand, the Government committee overseeing the re-entry is taking no chances.
If something goes very wrong with the re-entry and it looks like debris from Mir might land on New Zealand, police stations in the affected area will be alerted.
"We would have to work out which part of New Zealand might be crossed, narrow down the zone and send a message to police stations in that area," said Satellite Re-entry Committee chairman Patrick Helm.
On advice from the committee, police had "standardised" their operations manuals, Mr Helm said.
But latest information from the Russians is that Mir could arrive later than expected.
"The Russians are just beginning to signal that it's slowing down a bit more and the landing may slip into Friday," said Mr Helm.
Officially, Mir's expected re-entry time is 6.20 pm on Thursday.
The Russians will have four orbits in which to bring the 140-tonne station back to Earth, but with each orbit Mir moves a few degrees west - closer to New Zealand.
The committee which Mr Helm heads, in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, has been reconvened for Mir's descent and is made up of representatives of police, the Maritime Safety Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Defence.
The final descent will be triggered at 220km altitude when the Progress M1-5 cargo ship attached to Mir will begin firing its thrusters to guide the station into the Earth's atmosphere.
Mir is expected to land in the 200km by 6000km "space junkyard" halfway between NZ and Chile.
The Satellite Re-entry Committee met yesterday and would meet again on Wednesday, Mr Helm said.
Maritime and aviation warnings about Mir's re-entry had already been sent out. Only three international flights to or from New Zealand had been affected and an alternative flight path had been mapped.
Meanwhile, a group of space enthusiasts who have paid thousands of dollars to watch Mir's last moments have gathered in Fiji.
The group of US space watchers, TV crews and former Russian cosmonauts, plan to fly into the landing zone as Mir's final plunge nears.
Pitcairn Islanders are also gearing up for a front-row seat. The tiny island, with about 50 inhabitants, sits in the middle of the re-entry zone but still more than 3000km to the northwest of Mir's entry point.
As the space station enters the thickest part of the Earth's atmosphere, its components will cause a sonic boom. This will be followed by a pyrotechnics display as Mir begins to burn up.
Pieces of Mir weighing up to 700kg could survive the burn.
Mir is the largest man-made object every to plummet back to Earth but in the past 40 years more than 1400 tonnes of space material is thought to have survived re-entry and no casualties have been reported.
Herald Online feature: Mir re-entry
www.mirreentry.com
Police on alert for chance Mir crash
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