Defunct satellite expected to hit Earth in March first week

Offcials have said that a dead US spy satellite in deteriorating orbit is expected to hit the Earth during the first week of March.

It is not known until now that where will the satellite hit.

Officials familiar with the situation say about half of the 2,270 kilograms spacecraft is expected to survive its blazing descent through the atmosphere and will scatter debris, some potentially hazardous, over several hundred miles.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The satellite is outfitted with thrusters, small engines used to position it in space, that contain the toxic rocket fuel hydrazine.

Hydrazine can cause harm to anyone who comes into contact.

The satellite, known by its military designation US193, was launched in December 2006.

It lost power and its central computer failed almost immediately afterward, leaving it uncontrollable.

It carried a complex and secret imaging sensor.

US officials do not want the equipment to be recovered by people who should not have control of it.

Where it lands will be difficult to predict until the satellite descends to about 59 miles above Earth and enters the atmosphere.

It will then begin to burn up, with flares visible from the ground, said Ted Molczan, a Canadian satellite tracker.

From that point on, he said, it will take about 30 minutes to fall.

Two new flesh-eating dinosaurs discovered in Nigeria

Researchers have said that two strange new flesh-eating dinosaurs which hunted the rich forests of Africa some 110 million years ago have been unearthed in Niger.

Both ran quickly on powerful hind legs with the aid of a long tail and competed for prey with a third creature, which was previously discovered and which hunted both in and out of the water.

But the three massive predators likely divided up the rich spoils based upon how their body structures impacted their hunting capacities, said lead author Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago.

The heavy-browed 40-foot long Eocarcharia dinops, or "fierce-eyed dawn shark," was likely the main predator as its powerful claws and teeth could tear limbs and flesh off its prey.

Its brow was swollen into a massive band of bone, giving it a menacing glare, which may have been used as a battering ram against rivals for mating rights.

The short-snouted 25-foot long Kryptops palaios, or "old hidden face," also discovered in 2000, was likely a scavenger because of its short forearms and an armored snout better suited for digging into carcasses than for snapping at live prey.

The sail-backed 36-foot long Suchomimus or "crocodile mimic," which Sereno discovered in 1997, likely feasted mostly on fish because of its long, narrow snout and hook-like teeth.

"They show us that very early on and for probably at least 20 or 30 million years meat eating was divided up in a way that we don't have on the northern continent," he said in a telephone interview.