A deserted German satellite was close to crashing into Beijing before it eventually plunged into the Indian Ocean last October, Daily Telegraph reported.

The European Space Agency told Das Spiegel magazine that its new calculations have discovered that if the 2.5-ton Rosat satellite's re-entry had been delayed for seven more minutes, the Chinese capital of 20 million people would have faced a deep impact.

The satellite's remnants, travelling at speeds of 280mph (450.6kph), would have destroyed buildings, left craters and almost certainly caused causalities.

(China.org.cn February 2, 2012)

據英國《每日電訊報》報道，去年10月，一枚廢棄的德國衛星在墜入印度洋之前，曾差點墜落北京。

歐洲宇航局向德國《明鏡》雜志透露，最新測算結果表明，如果這枚2.5噸重的“倫琴”號衛星重返地球的時間再推遲7分鐘，擁有2000萬人口的中國首都北京將面臨“深度撞擊”。

衛星的殘余部分墜落時速達到280英里（450.6公里），將會摧毀建筑、形成撞擊坑，一定會造成人員傷亡。