China’s space agency expects Tiangong-1,…
China’s space agency expects Tiangong-1, its out-of-control space station, to crash to Earth some time between now and April 2018.
Tiangong-1 or “Heavenly Palace” lab was launched in 2011 and described in a report by The Guardian as a “potent political symbol” of China, part of an ambitious scientific push to turn China into a space superpower. It was used for manned and unmanned missions. Also, China’s first female astronaut, Liu Yang, visited the space station in 2012.
Last year, after months of speculation, the Chinese government confirmed it had lost control of the 8.5-metric ton space station and warned that it would plunge to Earth in 2017 or 2018.
“Based on our calculation and analysis, most parts of the space lab will burn up during falling,” a spokesperson for China’s space agency told Fox News.
However, large chunks of metal could still fall to Earth and injure or kill anyone standing on the impact site, according to Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard University astrophysicist.
“There will be lumps of about 100 [kilograms] or so, still enough to give you a nasty wallop if it hit you,” McDowell told The Guardian, last year.
