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posted by martyb on Wednesday October 18 2017, @03:06PM   Printer-friendly
from the down-to-earth-warning dept.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/13/tiangong-1-chinese-space-station-will-crash-to-earth-within-months

An 8.5-tonne Chinese space station has accelerated its out-of-control descent towards Earth and is expected to crash to the surface within a few months.

The Tiangong-1 or "Heavenly Palace" lab was launched in 2011 and described as a "potent political symbol" of China, part of an ambitious scientific push to turn China into a space superpower. It was used for both manned and unmanned missions and visited by China's first female astronaut, Liu Yang, in 2012.

But in 2016, after months of speculation, Chinese officials confirmed they had lost control of the space station and it would crash to Earth in 2017 or 2018. China's space agency has since notified the UN that it expects Tiangong-1 to come down between October 2017 and April 2018.

[...] Although much of the craft is expected to burn up in the atmosphere, McDowell says some parts might still weigh up to 100kg when they crash into the Earth's surface.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday October 18 2017, @05:23PM (5 children)

    by nitehawk214 (1304) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @05:23PM (#584015)

    So lets turn a dangerous falling object into several dangerous falling objects?

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  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @05:51PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @05:51PM (#584024)

    So lets turn a dangerous falling object into several dangerous falling objects?

    Kind of, but with corporate sponsorship.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:27PM (2 children)

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:27PM (#584040)

    If you hit it just before it re-enters, breaking it into smaller pieces will help them burn, and reduce the chance one of them hits you.
    Intercepting at about 100 km, new debris generated should not stay up very long. Bad luck could cause a shard or twenty to rise back up to LEO, I don't know the odds, but they've gotta be pretty small.

    It would be a good test of missile defense, therefore it won't happen, the same way that we don't try to intercept NK's missiles, just in case we look foolish by missing.

    Final decisions will depend on where this thing looks likely to impact. 70% of the area is deemed safe, and many dry places are don't cares.
    Knowing my luck, I should delay my roof repairs for a little while.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @01:17PM (#584525)

      Simple solution. Do the test covertly. If it fails, don't tell anyone about it.

    • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday October 20 2017, @01:31PM

      by urza9814 (3954) on Friday October 20 2017, @01:31PM (#585214) Journal

      There's also the liability issue.. that's always a strong force in this country. If a 100kg chunk of space station hits a populated area, that's not gonna be good, but we can just blame the Chinese. If we blow it into 10kg chunks and one of those hits a populated area, that's better, but still probably not great, and now the damage gets blamed on us because we altered the trajectory when we blew the thing up.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:59PM

    by frojack (1554) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:59PM (#584053) Journal

    So lets turn a dangerous falling object into several dangerous falling objects?

    Yup, that's the plan. Make most of it burn up in the re-entry rather than having huge chunks landing in un-predictable places. That, and managing the fuel and orbit such that you can use remaining thrusters in order to dump falling stuff into the ocean. Its done this way already.

    Just yesterday a Russian booster was dumped into the Indian ocean. [gulftoday.ae] People were already speculating it could be Tiangong-1 until the adults stepped in.

    I know you meant it derisively, but that is indeed what the US and Russia endeavor to do with equipment that is going to be coming down anyway. Planning for this starts with design of boosters, and the reserve gas for thrusters on board, and continues right into orbit decay.

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