A defunct space station is falling out of control toward Earth, and it's expected to re-enter the atmosphere sometime this weekend.
- Abandoned Chinese space station tumbling toward Earth
- It's unknown exactly where it will re-enter atmosphere
- Tiangong-1 being tracked by multiple space agencies
No one knows exactly where — or if — it will land, scientists expect the school bus-sized piece of space junk to burn up on re-entry.
Either way, it should put on quite a show for those whose skies it re-enters.
What does that mean for you?
The Tiangong-1, which translates to "heavenly palace," was launched in 2011 as China's first space station. The last crew departed in 2013, and Chinese space authorities lost contact with it in 2016.
Farewell, Tiangong-1! China's first space lab #Tiangong-1, launched in September 2011, will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up during failling between March 31 and April 4, 2018: China's manned space engineering office, Mon pic.twitter.com/JtB7JtJw3G
— People's Daily,China (@PDChina) March 26, 2018
Since then, it's been gradually making its way toward Earth, and its expected re-entry time has now been narrowed to about Sunday, April 1.
But this is no April Fools' joke.
The big question is: Where will it hit?
The European Space Agency says it could be anywhere between 43 degrees North or 45 degrees South. The ESA's tracker shows where the Tiangong-1 space station is now and its projected path over the next few hours.
Current estimated reentry window for #Tiangong1 from ESA's Space Debris Office runs from midday 31 March to early afternoon 1 April (in UTC time); this is highly variable!
— ESA (@esa) March 29, 2018
Read more: https://t.co/H8NDGiUUrA (Radar image by @Fraunhofer_FHRe) pic.twitter.com/Nkomalx2fu
So keep your eyes peeled this weekend.
The good news is, the chances of any one person on Earth being hit by debris is considered less than one in a trillion.