Spokesman Andreas Schuetz told The Associated Press on Wednesday that most of the satellite named ROSAT, which is about the size of a minivan, will burn up during re-entry.
Schuetz says, however, that up to 30 fragments weighing a total of 1.9 tons (1.7 metric tons) could crash into the earth between Friday and Monday.
It's not known exactly where it will come down, beyond a broad estimate of somewhere between 53-degrees north and 53-degrees south -- a vast swath of territory that includes much of the earth outside the poles.
The scientific satellite was launched in 1990 and retired in 1999.
