China’s first space station is expected to come crashing down with 'toxic' substance to Earth within weeks. But scientists have not been able to predict where the 8.5-tonne module will hit, a media report said on Tuesday.
According to a British daily The Guardian, the US-funded Aerospace Corporation believes that Tiangong-1 will re-enter the atmosphere during the first week of April. The European Space Agency (ESA) differs and indicated that the module will come down between March 24 and April 19.
In 2016, China admitted that it had lost control of Tiangong-1 and would be unable to perform a controlled re-entry. Aerospace in a statement said that there was ‘a chance that a small amount of debris’ from the module will survive re-entry and hit the Earth. Tiangong-1, which means “heavenly palace” in Chinese, is 12m long with a diameter of 3.3m.
The research organization which advises the private sector and government on space flight, said, “If this should happen, any surviving debris would fall within a region that is a few hundred kilometers in size.”. However, the Not-for-Profit corporation warned that the space station might be carrying a highly toxic and corrosive fuel called hydrazine on board. Several scientists have therefore warned not to touch any debris that could be possibly be found on the ground nor inhale vapors the module may emit.
The California-headquartered organization in a statement said the module is expected to re-enter somewhere between 43° North and 43° South latitudes. The chances of re-entry were slightly higher in northern China, the Middle East, central Italy, northern Spain, New Zealand, Tasmania and the northern states of the US, parts of South America and southern Africa. Nonetheless, Aerospace insisted the chance of debris hitting anyone living in these nations was tiny.
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