Tiangong 1 was a prototype for the construction of a large permanently manned space station, like the International Space Station, as part of China's ambitious space program
Update: The space station is expected to crash during the night. As of 17:30 p.m., the update is that the crash is expected at 03:00 a.m. Israel time plus or minus two and a half hours. The reason for the relatively long term is that they cannot know for sure which of the remaining routes it will crash on, because at an altitude of just over 100 kilometers, the air density, even though it is low, still varies greatly and it is difficult to calculate when exactly enough friction will be created to cause the station to fall.
As mentioned, the control personnel lost control of the station in 2016 and now there is no telling where it will crash along a path that includes most of the land on Earth.
The continuation of the news as published on 29/3/2018
The Chinese space station Tiangong 1 is hurtling toward Earth. The friction created during its passage with the little air in the upper layer of the atmosphere continues to shrink its path.
For updates, go to the Twitter page of amateur astronomer Joseph Ramis
Since the China National Space Agency (CNSA) lost contact with Tiangong 1 in March 2016, the control center is unable to activate the spacecraft's engines to perform its controlled crash landing in the ocean.
The station, which weighs 8.5 tons, will burn up at an unknown time between March 30 (today) and April 2 in the atmosphere (at the time of writing, it is estimated that the breakup will occur on Sunday, April 1, 2018). The location is also not yet known - the range of its operational orbit and therefore also its disintegration orbit could be anywhere on Earth between the 43 north and 43 south latitudes. In this range are all the countries of the Middle East, many countries in Southern Europe, the southern two thirds of the USA, India, Australia and most of Africa and South America.
We can only know the exact location a few hours before the impact. The space station can complete the orbit of the Earth only if it is above a height of 100 km from the ground, below this height the disintegration will begin.
In the picture - a screenshot from a video taken from a plane that followed the crash of the ATV-1 cargo spacecraft in September. Tiangong 1 is similar in size and will probably burn the same way. Photo: ESA/NASA
Most parts of the station are expected to burn up in the atmosphere, but large fragments may survive until they reach the ground. Because most of the Earth's surface is covered by the ocean, it is therefore most likely that the fragments will find their rest at the bottom of the ocean after hitting and splashing water. Still, its course passes over many land areas. If Tiangong crashes into a populated area, observers on the ground will be in for a spectacular sight of a man-made fireball, whether the crash occurs at night or during the day.
China's first space station, Tiangong-1, or "Heavenly Palace" was launched using the Long March 2F/G launcher from the Jiuquan Launch Center on September 30, 2011.
Tiangong 1 was a prototype for the construction of a large permanently manned space station, like the International Space Station, as part of China's ambitious space program. The station itself was not manned when it was launched, but it was equipped with docking facilities and was visited by two crews. Three astronauts were launched to it on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft launched on June 16, 2012, including the first Chinese astronaut, fighter pilot Liu Yang. The crew members spent 11 days at the station and completed two dockings - one controlled by a computer and the other - by the crew members with guidance from the ground. The second crew launched on June 11, 2013 consisted of three astronauts and spent 13 days on the station where they completed the first maintenance of an in-orbit space station by China and performed additional docking tests.
China's original plan was to land the station in a controlled manner using the station's engines, however, on March 16, 2016, China reported to the United Nations that telemetry reception from Tiangong 1 had stopped. Now, as mentioned, its altitude is gradually decreasing and eventually the crash will be uncontrolled.
Explanation of the crash of the Chinese space station Tiangong 1. Aerospace Corp
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