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Michigan Governor Activates Emergency Operations Center to Monitor China's Tiangong-1 Space Station
Chinese space station spurs activation of Michigan emergency operations
China's Tiangong-1 space station [was] anticipated to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere [on] April 2 and in response, Gov. Rick Snyder activated Michigan's Emergency Operations Center... to monitor its travels.
Although unlikely, pieces of the 8.5 ton space station have the potential to land in the southern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, according to the Aerospace Corporation. Debris may contain a highly toxic and corrosive substance called hydrazine.
China's "Heavenly Palace" Returns to Earth and Burns Up
China's first space station burnt up in Earth's atmosphere on Sunday night, the US Joint Force Space Component Command reported. Using Space Surveillance Network sensors, US officials said the Tiangong-1 station reentered Earth's atmosphere at 8:16pm ET (00:16 UTC Monday). The station was over the southern Pacific Ocean, northwest of the island of Tahiti.
[...] Due to the track of the station it seems unlikely that anyone on land had much of a view of the reentry event. Also, there appear to have been few airplanes in the vicinity of the reentry. The best bet for any kind of imagery or video, therefore, is probably someone on board a ship. But the odds of even this seem fairly low.
The space station launched in 2011, and it served as an initial test bed for life-support systems in orbit and as a precursor for China's plans to launch a larger space station in the 2020s. In 2012 and 2013, the 10.4-meter long Tiangong-1 station nicknamed "Heavenly Palace" housed two different crews, the first staying for 12 days, and the second for 15 days.
[...] in 2016, Chinese engineers lost control of the space station and the ability to fire its engines.
[...] In recent months, China has shared information about the station's position with international officials, and the country has shared daily updates on its human spaceflight website. Finally, on Sunday night, the end came.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday April 03 2018, @07:49PM
If hydrazine was there, it was probably in a tank intended for orbital correction. So...if the tank survived reentry, and wasn't smashed on landing, it could slowly leak. Therefore hydrazine contamination is a possibility. It *is* dangerous, but not persistent. The question would be how much they started with, how hot the tank got during reentry, etc.
*I* wouldn't worry about it, but it's not *totally* foolish to do so.
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