Prankers and prankee’s alike may enjoy an extraordinary light show this Sunday, as the Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is expected to plummet back to earth sometime around April Fool’s Day.
Before stocking up your bomb shelter, know that the majority of the structure will likely burn re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Plus, your chances of being struck by falling debris are less than one in 1 trillion. Meaning, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning. So, instead of pulling a Chicken Little, perhaps you’ll want to keep an eye on the skies for the next few days as experts predict the abandoned Tiangong-1 will closely resemble a meteor shower. [caption id="attachment_8352" align="aligncenter" width="469"]
Courtesy of https://www.mirror.co.uk/[/caption]
Launched in September 2011, Tiangong-1, or “Heavenly Palace” was conceived as a first step toward a much grander objective: a permanent space station predicted to launch around 2022. While the Chinese government reportedly lost control of the structure in March 2016, their overall goal hasn’t been hindered by the prototypes descent. In fact, a second space station, the Tiangong-2, was launched in 2016.
Though the European Space Agency (ESA) has been closely tracking the structure’s reentry, predicting what time and where the station will fall exactly is still hard to determine since the system is uncontrollable. The Aerospace Corporation anticipates that the first signs of Tiangong-1’s descent will occur around 2 p.m. UTC (10 a.m. EST), give or take 16 hours.
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Courtesy of https://www.express.co.uk/[/caption]
The unmanned system is estimated to fall somewhere between 43 degrees latitude north and 43 degrees latitude south. To be fair, that covers the majority of the planet’s inhabited regions. Keep in mind, however, that the odds of being hit by any debris are minuscule.
On the other hand, your chances of witnessing some of the station’s fall are more than negligible. And if you’re lucky enough to sneak a peek, it’s likely to be a phenomenon you’ll never forget.
Even so, you’ll want to hold off on clearing your schedule this Sunday, as the unpredictable nature of the station’s plummet could result in the anomaly’s timeline shifting anywhere between March 31 and April 4.
Whether you’re hoping to catch every second of the structure’s reentry, or you just can’t shake the fear of being impaled by a space building, there are plenty of online sites tracking Tiangong-1’s progress.
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Courtesy of https://www.express.co.uk/[/caption]
Will you be looking out for Tiangong-1’s plummet back to Earth? Are you planning any space-themed parties for it? Let us know in the comments!
