Tiangong-1: Track out-of-control Chinese space station as it plunges down to Earth
Experts have warned we probably won't know when it will fall until just moments before
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Your support makes all the difference.China's Tiangong-1 space station is plunging towards the Earth.
The satellite, known as "Celestial Palace", has lost touch with its engineers in China and so will drop into the atmosphere without being controlled. But even that is guesswork: the Chinese space agency has not said publicly that the space station is out-of-control, let alone revealed any details about what is on board or where it will drop.
It's not clear where or when it will fall. But it's likely to drop down sometime in the next few hours, and some of it might make it through the Earth's atmosphere and drop to the ground.
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The satellite is probably on its last full orbit. (It circles the Earth every 90 l
minutes or so.) As it goes around, it is dropping rapidly, and will soon break up in the atmosphere.
There are a lot of websites offering ways of tracking the path of the satellite. But it is just that: tracking the predicted path rather than where it actually is. A good website to use is the Aerospace Corporation's, which is giving a full rundown of goings-on and is watching the space station as it flies.
China's Tiangong-1 space station is forecast to re-enter the earth's atmosphere between 8:11am and 9:33am (12.11am to 1.33am GMT) on Monday, the country's space authority said.
The craft is expected to land in area around 19.4 degrees west, 10.2 degrees south, the authority said on its website.
That means China is expecting it to enter Earth's atmosphere within the next hour.
The Chinese tabloid Global Times has claimed that worldwide media hype about the re-entry reflected overseas "envy" of China's space industry.
"It's normal for spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere, yet Tiangong-1 received so much attention partly because some Western countries are trying to hype and sling mud at China's fast-growing aerospace industry," it said.
Still waiting for re-entry for the space station, but it is not expected to be long.
Some are suggesting Tiangong-1 may have re-entered the atmosphere already. But as astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell points out, to be sure, we will have to wait.
According to an estimate by The Aerospace Corporation, the Tiangong 1 space station's fiery descent began at 12.30am UTC (1.30am GMT) on Monday.
However the US government-funded research company said its estimate had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 hours.
The Aerospace Corporation said: "Chances that space debris will hurt anybody are extremely slim, although when and where the space station's remains will land is still unknown."
China's space authority now saying Tiangong-1 space station is forecast to re-enter the earth's atmosphere near the southwest coast of Brazil between 8:42am and 9:01am (12.42am to 1.01am GMT) on Monday,
The craft is expected to re-enter in an area around 40.4 degrees west, 27.4 degrees south, the authority said on its website, giving it a position off the coast to the southwest of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
That would make it anytime in the next 10 minutes, if it has not already happened.
Again, it may take some time to confirm if that is indeed the case.
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