Chinese space station falling to earth

[Deleted]

I'm glad you agree with me that they are not facts. Things on a crash course for Earth are not considered in orbit. Unless the trajectory is corrected. Which it won't be. So it's not orbiting. It's crashing.

It's called a decaying orbit. It's already been pointed out several times.
It's orbit is decaying and will eventually bring it into the atmosphere where it will lose speed rapidly and gravity pull it faster forwards the surface.
Somewhere there it'll stop being in orbit. Possibly plummet? Or hurtle.. then eventually if there is anything left it will crash, into the surface.
But the period of it crashing will be fairly brief.

[Jonnusthegreat]

The satellite is still up, so explain to me how it's not currently in orbit?

It is currently on a crash course with the earth. Many other satellites are, but their courses will be corrected. This one has no plan of correction, so it is on a crash course with Earth.

[Orange Joe]

It is currently on a crash course with the earth. Many other satellites are, but their courses will be corrected. This one has no plan of correction, so it is on a crash course with Earth.

So what is a decaying orbit?

[Jonnusthegreat]

So what is a decaying orbit?

It's what happens when I jump.

[Garnier Fructis]

That is a sequence of me stating facts based on the other person's argument. The statements are obviously false, making the other argument null and void.

No, your statements don't follow from what they wrote.

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It's what happens when I jump.

That's wrong.

I linked it a while back, but "decaying orbit" is actually a thing, and there are a ton of papers written on things in decaying orbits. And it is not 'what happens when you jump.'

[Tom Anderson]

So there's a chance this thing could land in the United States? I thought Trump's tariffs were supposed to put an end to the Chinese dumping their steel here.

Underrated post.

[Blobfish]

Due to crash this Weekend..somewhere in the Map zone.

Anyone freaked out by this.. Y'all wearing Hard Hats

And who do we make an insurance claim too, if a nut or bolt from the space station hits my car, house etc.

https://www.space.com/40152-chinese-...-expected.html

A doomed Chinese space station will fall to Earth later than expected due to changes in the sun's predicted activity, the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Space Debris Office in Germany predicted.

An updated ESA forecast issued today (March 30) said the 8.5-metric-ton (9.4 tons) space lab will fall to Earth later in the day on April 1.

That's because the sun's activity is weaker than expected, ESA explained.

Tiangong-1's orbit takes the station very close to Earth's atmosphere right now. When the sun is more active, charged particles from the solar wind hit Earth's atmosphere, ESA officials said. These particles make Earth's gases balloon farther into space, increasing the gas density at higher altitudes. These gases, in turn, affect the drag Tiangong-1 experiences as it circles the Earth. [In Photos: China's Tiangong-1 Space Station]

The stronger the drag, the faster Tiangong-1 will fall. However, because the sun's activity is weaker than predicted, the atmosphere didn't balloon as much. Tiangong-1 will therefore experience less drag and descend more slowly than expected, ESA said.


The station's unpredictable fall has attracted attention around the world, along with worries that space debris might crash into structures or people below. Under a United Nations treaty, liability would likely rest with China. That said, the chances of someone getting hit are infinitesimally small; you have a far better chance of winning the Powerball jackpot.

Harvard University astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told Space.com's sister site Live Science that he predicts only 220 to 440 lbs. (100 to 200 kilograms) of debris from Tiangong-1 will make it to the planet's surface. Still, the space station will put on a spectacular show as it falls, he said.



Here is radar images of the space station falling from Germany. It is the size of a School Bus

https://www.space.com/40089-china-sp...ar-images.html

[GreenJesus]

Why don't we just lazer beam it to dust? Trump needs to start working on the Death Star.

[Blobfish]

Why don't we just lazer beam it to dust? Trump needs to start working on the Death Star.

Might be a good idea. Considering the amount of space junk floating around the planet.

However, specs of space junk dust travelling at the speed of a bullet, can hit current "good" communication satellites still operating..

What they really need is a space junk Vacuum cleaner.

I suppose Australians are a bit more worried about this one hitting the country than perhaps other nations.

Back in 1979 the USA's SKYLAB crashed into the Australian desert... with Titanium tanks & all

https://www.space.com/21092-skylab-s...is-photos.html