China’s out of control space lab to enter Earth’s atmosphere on Easter Monday, Beijing says
Tiangong-1 continues to edge closer, but exact time of arrival still unknown
China’s Tiangong-1 space station is set to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on Monday, officials said on Sunday, as the expected time of arrival for the out of control craft continued to be fine-tuned.
But Beijing said there was no need for concern as it was unlikely to do any damage on the ground, in an apparent effort to ease fears after the US state of Michigan put emergency teams on standby in case it crash-landed there.
The lab was at an altitude of 167.6km at 8am on Sunday, the China Manned Space Agency said. At noon on Saturday it was reported to have been 179km outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
People should not panic about the spacecraft as it would mostly be burnt up in the atmosphere and was not likely to affect aviation activities or cause any damage when it comes down, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office.
As it hurtles towards Earth, the main structure of the space lab will burn or explode from the increasing heat and friction. Falling spacecraft usually disintegrate at an altitude of about 80km and the fragments will continue burning, with most of them dissipating in the air, Xinhua said.
Even if there is any debris, it will reach the ground by “floating down at a very slow speed due to their small mass”, the report said.