"According to NASA scientists, the pieces of the dead satellite can land anywhere in the six inhabited continents in a worldwide swath from south of Juneau, Alaska, to just north of the tip of South America.

"It's a hard calculation problem; we don't know the exact instant when it's going to come down, and it's moving really fast. It actually orbits the Earth every 90 minutes," says Steve White, a Fresno State Physics Professor.

However, scientists say the risk of getting hit by the satellite parts is almost negative as most of it will burn up after entering the atmosphere. Only about 1,200 pounds should survive, scattered over perhaps a 500-mile-wide area, NASA said."