Experts believe another Chinese space station might crash into Earth

Another one of the Chinese space stations might soon plunge back to Earth, just like one of them did few months ago.

Three months earlier, Chinese space station Tiangong-1 re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and now, its sister craft Tiangong-2 seems to do the same as it came pretty close to Earth few days ago.

Tiangong-2 was observed plummeting around 95km towards Earth’s surface, but then mysteriously returned to its normal orbital height. This behavior led experts to believe that China might be preparing to decommission the spacecraft in future. However, Tiangong-2 could have a more controlled fall unlike the Tiangong-1 which went out of control.

Chinese space station finally crashes to Earth

Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told SpaceNews, “It seems likely that the lowering of Tiangong-2’s orbit is the first step in safely disposing of it.” However, McDowell even speculated that Tiangong-2’s weird behavior might be because of China testing its engines, reported Metro.

The space station’s activity was noticed by the US Strategic Command that made the orbital information public. China’s Manned Space Engineering Office is, however, yet to provide its statement about it, reported Daily Mail.

The Joint Space Operation Center of the US Strategic Command informed that Tiangong-2 lowered from an altitude of between 380 and 386km to between 292 and 297km on June 13. That altitude was maintained by the space station for 10 days before returning to its original height.

Tiangong-2 is an 8,600kg, 34ft long and 14ft wide Chinese experimental satellite that was launched back in September 2016. The Chinese State claims that the module is being used for ‘testing systems and processes for mid-term space days and refueling’. It is conducting experiments ahead of a 2022 planned Chinese space station.

Moreover, Tiangong-1 crashed to Earth in April 2018 in the Pacific Ocean, hurting no one. Luckily, most of the debris was burnt up during the satellite’s re-entry and did not cause much damage.