The website link here details the imminent and uncontrolled return to Earth of a 20,000 lb spy satellite that has lost power and can no longer be controlled. Fears are now that radioactive and other hazardous materials that are part of the satellite's configuration could cause serious problems depending on where the vehicle enters the atmosphere.

Pike, director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org, estimated that the spacecraft weighs about 20,000 pounds and is the size of a small bus. He said the satellite would create 10 times less debris than the Columbia space shuttle crash in 2003.

Another rumor has it that the object with a decaying orbit is a failed attempt by the Chinese to build an orbital deathstar--an effort that has failed due to their choice of Windows Vista as the primary operating system powering the vehicle's navigational array and the power management grid for the propulsion systems on board.

Given the choice between the two I see the second scenario as more likely.

"Send the fleet to the far side of Endor," was the quote from Chinese President Hu Jin Tao just prior to this announcement.