Science

China's Tiangong-1 space lab plummets to Earth, misses Wisconsin

April 03, 2018 02:12·
An artist's illustration of China's Tiangong-1 space lab in Earth orbit. China Manned Space Engineering Office

An artist's illustration of China's Tiangong-1 space lab in Earth orbit. China Manned Space Engineering Office

Most of it should burn up on re-entry, so scientists say it poses only a slight risk to people on the ground. Also, the United States Air Force 18th Space Control Squadron, which detects and tracks all artificial objects or particles in earth's orbit, had tracked the uncontrolled Tiangong-1 at the time of its re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific.

The Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011 as a prototype for China's ultimate space goal: a permanent space station which is expected to launch around 2022. JFSCC confirmed #Tiangong1 reentered the atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean at ~5:16 p.m. (PST) April 1.

China's Tiangong-1 space lab finally plummeted to Earth on Sunday evening, as scientists predicted.

"Space junk this size falls to Earth a few times a year", NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports, but "it's usually something like a spent rocket stage - not a home-away-from-home for space travelers".

The bus-sized spacecraft re-entered Earth's atmosphere at approximately 8:16 p.m. EDT Sunday (0016 GMT Monday) over the southern Pacific Ocean, according to the US military's Joint Force Space Component Command, which tracks objects orbiting Earth using a network of radars and optical sensors.

Used for practising docking manoeuvres and techniques, the last crew left Tiangong 1 - which translates as Celestial Palace 1 - in 2013.

Earlier forecasts had said that only about 10 percent of the bus-sized, 8.5-ton spacecraft would likely survive re-entry, mainly its heavier components such as its engines.

Since then, it has orbited gradually closer and closer to Earth on its own while being monitored.

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During its extended flight, Tiangong-1 conducted experiments in space technology, space-earth remote sensing and space environment exploration, the office said.

Bill Ailor, of the Aerospace Corporation's Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies, said that this re-entry is not particularly risky for people.

McDowell said the China space agency's initial estimate for re-entry was off because it "guessed wrong" about the time the space lab would leave its orbital path.

He said the danger to humans was small, with the likelihood of being hit by space debris lower than "being hit by lightning twice in the same year".

The first U.S. space station, the 74-ton Skylab, fell to Earth in an uncontrolled reentry in 1979.

Why did the space lab fall like this?

China also plans to put a man on the moon and send a rover to Mars.

Tiangong-1 was launched on September 29, 2011 and its service ended in March 2016. The spacecraft was meant to be a step towards making a permanently staffed space station of their own, as China is not a part of the operation of the International Space Station.

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