China's Tiangong-1 Space Station Will Crash to Earth in the Next Few Months

Gizmodo ^ | 15 Oct, 2017 | Tom McKay

[MtnClimber]

China’s 8.5-ton Tiangong-1 space station, originally launched in 2011, has seen its orbit rapidly decay and is now expected to hit the Earth in the next few months, the Guardian reported.

Chinese officials told the UN in 2016 they had lost the ability to correct the station’s altitude and expected it to plummet to the ground between October 2017 and April 2018. But Harvard University astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told the Guardian it now is entering the atmosphere at an even more accelerated timetable, and will probably see its demise in the earlier part of that range.

“Now that [its] perigee is below 300 kilometers [186 miles] and it is in denser atmosphere, the rate of decay is getting higher,” McDowell said. “I expect it will come down a few months from now—late 2017 or early 2018.”

He added there is a small chance chunks of the station weighing up to 220 pounds (100 kilograms) could remain intact and hit the ground at high speed.

[MtnClimber]

That did not stay up very long!

[Mr. K]

I remember them spraying down a tower with Skylab Repellent

It must have worked! (that’s science!)

[rjsimmon]

[dp0622]

Lol. They should have sent some guy up with some stain and a paintbrush and a ladder.

[sipow]

It was only planned to be used for 2 years.

[Bobalu]

Maybe a piece will land on Hillary.

If you get why I post this image then we were fans of the same show :-)

[Darteaus94025]

Global warming!

[dblshot]

That’s the problem with Chinese satellites, 5 years later you want to put up another one.

[real saxophonist]

Beat me to posting it. 8~)

[glock rocks]

A toilet seat?

[cartoonistx]

I hope Sandra Bullock gets out in time!

[Wolfie]

“I have to make a sissy”.

[onedoug]

Chinese junk

[Know et al]

That did not stay up very long!

You launch a Chinese space station and 30 months later you want to launch another one.

[Know et al]

You beat me by that much, dblshot. Good job!

[butlerweave]

from it’s water tank ?

[I want the USA back]

Please hit the San Andreas Fault! Please knock California into the ocean!

[dfwgator]

“Screw those Commie bastards and screw their little wussy space station!”

[texas booster]

http://www.satview.org/spacejunk.php?sat_id=37820U

Satellite tracking for the Tiangong-1 from SatView.