China Lost Control of Their Space Lab That Is Crashing To Earth and No One Knows Where It Will Hit

11Uncontrolled re-entry

This means a controlled re-entry is no longer possible and the Spacelab would now be pulled into the earth’s atmosphere by atmospheric drag. 

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12Bigger things have fallen from space

Tiangong -1 is not the first large object to fall from space. The record breakers was the huge Russian space station Mir weighing `140 tons that crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2001 but that was a controlled re-entry. NASA’s 85 ton Skylab crashed to earth in July 1979 scattering huge chunks of debris all over Western Australia leading o the town of Esperance suing NASA for $400 littering. What makes Tiangong’s crash to earth more significant and worrisome is that it is also an uncontrolled re-entry and no one knows exactly where it will hit. 

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13Who can see it?

Even as you read this Tiangong is hurtling towards earth at 16,500 mph at a height of 180 km above earth’s surface. Once it falls below 100km, its energy load will turn into heat and the craft will be almost ripped apart by aerodynamic force. But 1.5 to 3.5 tones of the spacecraft will survive and where that hits is a big question. 

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14Dozens of pieces will be strewn over the crash site for hundreds of miles

It could reach the surface of the earth with dozens of pieces strewn over hundreds of miles. What’s most dangerous is the fuel tanks that contain rocket propulsion fuel called Hydrazine.

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15If you happen to be in the right zone you will see it

Said Holger Krag head of the European Space Agency in Darmadst, “If you’re in the right place at the right time, and the sky is clear, it will be quite spectacular, it will be visible to the naked eye, even in daylight, and look like a slow-moving shooting star that splits into a few more shooting stars. You might even see a smoke trail.” 

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