China Confirms Its Space Station Is Falling Back to Earth (popularmechanics.com)

The Tiangong-1, China's prototype space station which was launched in September 2011, is no longer under the control of China. PopularMechanics reports: China's Tiangong-1 space station has been orbiting the planet for about 5 years now, but recently it was decommissioned and the Chinese astronauts returned to the surface. In a press conference, China announced that the space station would be falling back to earth at some point in late 2017. Normally, a decommissioned satellite or space station would be retired by forcing it to burn up in the atmosphere. This type of burn is controlled, and most satellite re-entries are scheduled to burn up over the ocean to avoid endangering people. However, it seems that China's space agency is not sure exactly when Tiangong-1 will re-enter the atmosphere, which implies that the station has been damaged somehow and China is no longer able to control it. This is important because it means Tiangong-1 won't be able to burn up in a controlled manner. All we know is it will burn up at some point in late 2017, but it is impossible to predict exactly when or where. This means that there is a chance debris from the falling spacecraft could strike a populated area.

Comments

Re:Not the first time this has happened

[kheldan]

Got any other impotent rage you'd like to get out?

Sure. You volunteering?

Shove it up your ass. I don't like the Chinese government, and I see no reason why I SHOULD like them. I feel sorry for the Chinese people, having to put up with the unbelievable bullshit they have to put up with from their own government. If you're saying you LIKE the Chinese government, then I invite you to go throw yourself into an operating wood-chipper, because you're a bad human being and a waste of perfectly good oxygen. Better yet, go emigrate there and live under their rule; that's a worse fate than death so far as I'm concerned. Things may be fucked-up right now here in the U.S., but I'd rather be here than there.