science

April Fools’ Crash: China’s Space Station Will Most Likely Fall to Earth on Sunday

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This map shows the current position and orbit of Tiangong-1 in red, with the remaining ground tracks indicating the uncertainty in the re-entry prediction as of March 30, 2018.                      Credit: The Aerospace Corporation

It sure looks like the abandoned Chinese space station Tiangong-1 will put on its re-entry light show on April Fools’ Day.

The European Space Agency (ESA), which has been tracking the prototype habitat through its final days and hours, now predicts (as of March 31) it will re-enter the atmosphere within a window centered on April 1 at around 23:25 UTC (7:25 p.m. EST) and running into the early morning of April 2. The ESA’s updated forecast moves a little later after accounting for lower solar activity, the ESA said.

The Aerospace Corporation, which has also been tracking the falling station, more or less concurs, writing that the uncontrolled re-entry should happen around 20:30 UTC (4:30 p.m. EST) on April 1, give or take 8 hours.

Read Article:  https://www.livescience.com/62175-chinese-space-station-crash-april-fools.html

 

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