China's Tiangong-1 Space Lab Expected to Fall to Earth Over Easter Weekend
Society | March 23, 2018, Friday // 14:06| viewsИзточник: pixabay
China's Tiangong-1 space lab will likely fall to Earth between March 30 and April 2, according to the latest prediction by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Space Debris Office in Darmstadt, Germany.
This window is "highly variable," not ironclad, Space Debris Office representatives stressed in the updated forecast, which was issued yesterday (March 21).
Meanwhile, ESA will serve as host and administrator of a test campaign regarding the re-entry of Tiangong-1, conducted by the Inter Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC).
IADC comprises space-debris experts and other researchers from 13 space agencies and other organizations, including NASA, ESA, European national space agencies, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Russia's Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration.
IADC members will use the fall of Tiangong-1 to conduct their annual re-entry test campaign, during which participants will pool their predictions of the time window, as well as their respective tracking datasets obtained from radar and other sources. The aim is to cross-verify, cross-analyze and improve the prediction accuracy for all members.
It's unknown where exactly Tiangong-1 will fall back to Earth. But given the spacecraft's inclination, it will re-enter somewhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south latitudes.
Owing to the Chinese station's mass and construction materials, there is a distinct possibility that some portions of Tiangong-1 will survive the fiery journey through Earth's atmosphere and reach the surface, experts say./www.space.com
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