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China’s second space station mysteriously lowers its orbit

The first Chinese space lab incinerated upon impact

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An artist's impression of the Tiangong-2 space station docked with the Shenzhou spacecraft. (Picture: China Manned Space Engineering Office)
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

China’s second space station is confounding space experts -- leading them to speculate over the fate of the Tiangong-2.

An artist's impression of the Tiangong-2 space station docked with the Shenzhou spacecraft. (Picture: China Manned Space Engineering Office)
An artist's impression of the Tiangong-2 space station docked with the Shenzhou spacecraft. (Picture: China Manned Space Engineering Office)
 
It all started when the US Joint Space Operations Center reported that the unmanned vehicle had descended almost 60 miles, prompting some to speculate that China was getting ready to deorbit the Tiangong-2 to avoid the fate of the Tiangong-1 -- which was incinerated when it re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on April 1st.

But then on June 22nd -- 10 days after the initial drop -- the space station unexpectedly reverted to its previous orbit height of 242 miles.

The Tiangong-2 -- which means "heavenly palace" in Mandarin -- was launched in 2016 to test its ability to support a crew and refuel while in orbit, and is considered a key step forward for China’s space program.

So what’s happening?

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