The Cellar - Chinese junk incoming!

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Chinese junk incoming!

Quote:

Tiangong-1 reentry window narrows to Easter Sunday

Latest predictions indicate that China’s defunct Tiangong-1 space laboratory will fall to Earth most likely on April 1.
According to updated calculations made by The Aerospace Corporation, a non-profit corporation providing technical guidance and advice on all aspects of space missions, the school bus-size station will enter the atmosphere around 11:15 a.m. EDT (15:15 GMT) plus or minus 14 hours.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has also updated its forecast regarding Tiangong-1’s descent. ESA’s Space Debris Office, which coordinates the agency’s research relating to space debris, now predicts that the spacecraft will fall to the planet between the night of March 31 and late evening of April 1.
The office said these estimates are always subject to change due to an array of variables, including variations of the atmosphere due to solar activity.

Just to narrow it down a bit, anywhere between 43N and 43S could potentially end up with a hole in the roof.
Up here at the rarefied latitude of 51 45N we can confidently leave our tin helmets on the hook in the hall.

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The US says you can't keep or try to sell US spacecraft that crash on your property. But if this thing lands in my back yard, can China keep me from parting it out and selling on eBay? Finders keepers and all that. You could make a small fortune if the thing landed in your yard.

Could you afford to pay the import tariff on it?

Quote:

HOW COMMON IS MAN-MADE SPACE DEBRIS?

Debris from satellites, space launches and the International Space Station enters the atmosphere every few months, but only one person is known to have been hit by any of it: American woman Lottie Williams, who was struck but not injured by a falling piece of a U.S. Delta II rocket while exercising in an Oklahoma park in 1997.

Most famously, America's 77-ton Skylab crashed through the atmosphere in 1979, spreading pieces of wreckage near the southwestern Australia city of Perth, which fined the U.S. $400 for littering.

Quote:

Skylab and its fiery re-entry

Back in the late 1970's Balladonia was thrust into the international spotlight. In July, the world was captivated by the plight of a wayward NASA space station called Skylab. For weeks there was a lot of speculation about where it would come crashing to earth. NASA scientists predicted South Africa but in the early morning of July 13, 1979 they were proved wrong. On the centenary of Balladonia's settlement, fiery pieces of Skylab landed around the grounds of our hotel prompting a call by then president Jimmy Carter to apologise for the mess!

Our museum has a lot of information about Skylab and the events that unfolded that night so it's well worth a visit.

Attachment 63535

Skylab oxygen tank which arrived in Australia pretty much intact.
If the snakes and spiders don't get you, the space junk will. Well, almost.
That image, plus several others, available in supersized versions here: Space.com

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Quote:

Tiangong-1 reentry window narrows to Easter Sunday

Latest predictions indicate that China’s defunct Tiangong-1 space laboratory will fall to Earth most likely on April 1.

Oh great, the Evangelicals see that on Easter and they'll be even more sure they're the chosen. :rolleyes:

First by sea. Now by air. Donald Trump calls this unfair trade and wants more tariffs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carruthers (Post 1006419)

In my ballpark. i'm surprised they don't have a better idea of timing. This would have been a great time for Trumpy to play at Commander-in-Chief by blowing out of the sky for practice.

I've got my butterfly net ready.

Only time that most of the US could be hit was in four passes in Sunday morning between 4 AM eastern and 930 AM pacific time.

Southern TX and southern CA get an opportunity around 1130 Central time.

Hawaii gets only one chance at 1100 Hawaii time - about 1600 hrs Eastern.

London never gets a chance.

As usual, nobody wins the lottery.

Could any Chinese secrets be found in the wreckage?

"...somewhere between 43 degrees South, and 43 degrees North..."

That's really narrowing it down.

Chinese junk incoming!

It's at 140 km altitude right now and currently losing one km per minute. But this won't be linear. It won't be crashing in 140 minutes. It's going to be (already is) exponential.

I'll be surprised if it's more than an hour before it crashes. But that's just a guess. Can't predict the future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gravdigr (Post 1006468)

"...somewhere between 43 degrees South, and 43 degrees North..."

That's really narrowing it down.

Tiangong-1 crash: Chinese space station comes down in Pacific Ocean

Stand easy, chaps.