Scientists Unsure Where Chinese Space Station Will Crash To Earth

In 2016, the Chinese space agency lost control of its Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace, spacecraft, five years after it blasted into orbit. Scientists have determined that it will come crashing down to Earth in the coming weeks, be they do not know exactly where on Earth it will hit. The Guardian reports: The defunct module is now at an altitude of 150 miles and being tracked by space agencies around the world, with the European Space Agency's center in Darmstadt predicting a fiery descent for it between March 27 and April 8. Hurtling around the Earth at about 18,000mph, the module ranks as one of the larger objects to re-enter the atmosphere without being steered towards the ocean, as is standard for big and broken spacecraft, and cargo vessels that are jettisoned from the International Space Station (ISS), to reduce the risk to life below. The spacecraft's orbit ranges from 43 degrees north to 43 degrees south, which rules out a descent over the UK but includes vast stretches of North and South America, China, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, parts of Europe -- and great swaths of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Western analysts cannot be sure how much of the spacecraft will survive re-entry, because China has not released details of the design and materials used to make Tiangong-1. But the spacecraft may have well-protected titanium fuel tanks containing toxic hydrazine that could pose a danger if they land in populated areas.

Comments

Been there, done that.

[CODiNE]

When I was a kid one day at the public pool I was using goggles to look for change. One time I found a $20 bill! This day would end up being just as exciting. There was a strange fuzzy object floating near the bottom in the 4 foot deep area. It took me 2 breaths to get a good look at it and figure out what the strange brown object was.

Suddenly I bolted up and started swimming away. "What is it?" asked a curious onlooker. "It's shit". As I swam for the edge as quick as I could those words became a chorus filling the air as the pool turned to chaos. Lifting myself out I turned to see hundreds desperately thrashing and and yelling as if a tiny brown shark were approaching with a stinky gaping maw. Yet as desperately as they swam little did I know there would soon be an even speedier exodus this day.

As the crowd squeezed itself against the fences, each member unconsciously trying to get as far from the water as possible, the lifeguards assured them and moved to vanquish the Lilliputian monster. A ring of shivering spectators watched in silence a lifeguard streaching a long netted pole towards the unholy floating aberration.

UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!! With trepidation the pole rises up clearly showing all its soft hateful bounty. And I swear this actually happened. Right then came a sudden gust of wind which flipped the net with such a snap it's horrid package of filth launched over 20 feet up into an arc that had to be appreciated both for its ability to seemingly slow down time while simultaneously heading straight for a group of 30 or more people frozen in terror. One by one they broke free from shock as their mental calculus confirmed they were in the splash zone.

When my eyes darted back to the spongey projectile it completed its journey with an unceremonious and lonely plop.

Hopefully this episode ends as anti-climatically as an interesting day at a public pool in the late 80's.

And yes... most of us went right back in the water.