Posted on 03/20/2018 12:50:08 PM PDT by BenLurkin
As the station continues to drop ever lower in its orbit, it becomes easier to predict its reentry date. In early March scientists knew enough to pinpoint the reentry date at somewhere near the end of the month, and now better data has given us an even more accurate estimate: March 31, plus or minus a few days.
But if predicting when Tiangong-1 will come down is hard, predicting where it will reenter is pretty much impossible. The station orbits the Earth several times per day, which means even a few minutes is enough time to bring the station over a completely different part of the planet. In effect, this means we won’t know where the station is going to come down even right before it happens.
Fortunately there’s almost no chance that any part of the station will reach the ground and even if some parts of the station don’t completely burn up in the atmosphere, most of the Earth is ocean. There’s an extremely small chance a single piece of the satellite will ever hit land, let alone you specifically.
However, if Tiangong-1 does enter the atmosphere near you, it will produce a pretty spectacular fireball. It might be worth keeping an eye on the status of the space station over the next few weeks, on the off chance that it comes down over your head. It won’t hurt, but it should be a pretty amazing show.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Somewhere between the North Pole and South Pole.
I read that it orbits every 91 minutes. They have in a 5 day window. It could happen anywhere.
>March 31, plus or minus a few days.<
.
How many days are in a ‘few days’?
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Not really. Lots of random factors, uncontrollable, involved in a descent through the atmosphere that aren’t present in the near vacuum between planets.
Hope they didn’t stick a nuke in it before they left.
Just a few deadly biological viruses on board....no biggy.
Just kidding.
The more things change, the more they remain the same...
Same group, different uniforms.
The thick metal will not completely burn up. But small pieces could be very hard to find, unless there is equipment that could track exact location.
Wouldn’t it be a kick if it landed in Kim Jong Un’s lap?
No, just somewhere between 42 and 43 degrees latitude ... on some day, on or about 03/31/18, maybe or not.
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