Tiangong-1 Chinese Space Station Could Fall In Corsica, France – How Dangerous Would That Be?

Tiangong-1 Chinese Space Station Could Fall In Corsica, France – How Dangerous Would That Be?

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), Tiangong-1 Chinese space station will plunge into the Earth’s atmosphere between March 29th and April 9th and will impact somewhere on Earth. However, some new reports coming from the Operational Orbitography Center (COO) of the CNES, in Toulouse, are saying that Tiangong-1 Chinese space station could fall in Corsica, France.

Tiangong-1 is out of control since 2015

Put into orbit in 2011, the experimental Chinese laboratory of 8.5 tons, 10m long, and 3.5m in diameter, is out of control of the Chinese space agency since December 2015.

However, the Chinese have not announced this event until recently, when they’ve admitted that Tiangong-1 will fall on Earth.

Tiangong-1 Chinese space station could fall in Corsica, France

According to the observations made by Stéphane Christy, an expert at the Operational Orbitography Center (COO) of the CNES, in Toulouse, “the altitude of Tiangong-1 decreases by a few kilometers per day (…) with a tendency to accelerate”.

From there, space agencies have been able to extrapolate an area in which the station is expected to enter the atmosphere. Accordingly, the Chinese space station will fall somewhere “between 42.8 degrees South and 42.8 degrees North latitudes”.

Several areas in France are considered potential impact places. However, some recent reports say that the Chinese space station has high chances to fall in Corsica.

How dangerous would be the fall of Tiangong-1 in a populated area?

To follow the entry of the Chinese station in the final phase, the COO should go into high alert from March 26th and should get additional measures from other French radars, including the military one from the Solenzara base, in Corsica.

Despite the recent panicking news regarding the possible toxins that Tiangong-1 has on board, the Earth’s atmosphere would almost completely burn the station on its fall.

However, some pieces of the Chinese space station which could fall in Corsica, France, could hit the Earth but, according to experts, “the risk of being hit by Tiangong-1 debris is 10 million times lower than the risk of being struck by lightning”.

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