China’s first space station Tiangong-1 will crash land to the Earth

The first space station of China Tiangong-1 was launched during September 2011. It is an orbiting space laboratory which is used many times to check spacecraft docking techniques and capabilities. Tiangong-1 was visited by Chinese astronaut twice by Shenzhou spacecraft during the years 2012 and 2013.

Tiangong-1 funded by the US Aerospace Corporation started to enter the earth atmosphere during the first week of April 2018. It is estimated that the space station could enter the atmosphere between March 24 and April 19. Earlier, China confirmed that it had lost the control over the Tiangong-1 and a controlled reentry to the earth atmosphere is not possible. Although the Aerospace agency is claiming that there was a very little chance that a small amount of debris will hit the earth, and if it happens then the debris will be of few hundred kilometers in size.

The Chinese space station revolves around the earth many times per day, and the estimation between which the space station will re-enter earth surface is between 43°N and 43 °S, as stated by ESA. But, it is not clear though on which hemisphere, i.e., Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere through which it will re-entry to the earth surface. Possible locations for re-entry of the station are parts of the United States, the Iberian Peninsula, the china, the Middle East, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Aerospace claims that there may be a possibility that the small debris from the station may leave during the re-entry of the station but there is minimal chance of that debris hitting any civilians or place.

An astrophysicist from HarvardUniversity, Jonathan McDowell said that “ Every couple of years something like this happens, but Tiangong-1 is very big and dense, so we need to have a closed watched over it”, to the guardian.