US-based research company Aerospace has predicted that China’s first space station Tiangong-1 will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere before or after March this year.
According to the prediction, the space station is expected to re-enter somewhere between 43° North and 43° South latitudes by the end of February or as late as early April.
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Following its entry into Earth’s atmosphere, Tiangong-1 will be disintegrated into pieces due to extreme heat and pressure caused by plowing through air, reported Business Insider.
A small portion of debris could survive re-entry and impact the ground.
The space station was launched in September 2011 from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, onboard a Long March 2F/G rocket.
Weighing 8,500kg at launch, Tiangong-1 was designed to house a manned lab and an experiment/demonstration for the larger, multiple-module Tiangong station.
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By GlobalDataEquipped with two solar panels, the space station is 10.5m-long and 3.4m in diameter.
In March 2016, China lost contact with Tiangong-1, which was designed to have a lifespan of two years.
Amateur satellite trackers were deployed to track Tiangong-1 and claimed that the station has been orbiting uncontrolled since at least June 2016.
However, Chinese authorities had predicted Tiangong-1 would re-enter the atmosphere in the latter half of last year.
The station has seen two manned missions launched in June 2012 and June 2013, respectively.
