China's Space Lab 'The Tiangong-1' Crashes to Earth Over South Pacific
Apparently, once it reached around 70km above the surface, the intense heat of re-entry melted the craft and it began to break apart.
A Chinese space station, which is reported to be roughly the size of a school bus has crashed to Earth, breaking up into pieces over the South Pacific. As per reports, the eight-tonne Tiangong-1 or the ‘heavenly palace’. "mostly" burnt up above the vast ocean's central region at 8:15 am (0015 GMT), China's Manned Space Engineering Office said, moments after predicting a slightly later re-entry over the Atlantic. Apparently, once it reached around 70km above the surface, the intense heat of re-entry melted the craft and it began to break apart.
There were previous reports, where space authorities had said, that the Tiangong-1 is expected to fall back to Earth between March 31 and April 4 and should burn up in the atmosphere. Tiangong-1 had officially stopped sending data and entered its final phase of life on March 16, a statement issued recently by the China Manned Space Engineering Office said.
Launched in September 2011, Tiangong-1 an experimental had a design life of two years. The heavenly vehicle successfully docked with the Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft and undertook a series of experiments. The lab completed its main missions following Shenzhou-10's return in June 2013. During its extended flight, Tiangong-1 conducted experiments in space technology, space-earth remote sensing and space environment exploration, the office said. China plans to finalise its space station to rival Mir, the Russian space station currently in orbit by 2022.
(With inputs from PTI)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 02, 2018 08:53 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).