China’s Tiangong-2 space station comes down crashing on earth. Here's what just happened
China's experimental space lab Tiangong-2 re-entered the earth's atmosphere as it fell into the Pacific Ocean today. Tiangong-2 had a controllen descent though. According to China’s Manned Space Engineering Office, all of the space lab's assigned tasks have been finished. So it had to fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere under the supervision of ground control. Tiangong-2 has now official ended its mission, and the orbital research facility's entire existence.
Here's what just happened:
Most of the spacecraft (Tiangong-2) was burnt up in the atmosphere and a small amount of debris faell in the safe sea area in the South Pacific (160-90 degrees west longitude and 30-45 degrees south latitude). However, there is nothing to worry about.
China was ready for the controlled re-entry of Tiangong-2 in the atmosphere. It timely reported the information about the spacecraft after it re-entered the atmosphere to fulfil its international obligations.
Most of Tiangong-2 incinerated into nothingness as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Some fragment may survive re-entry. Tiangong-2 now rests for eternity alongside hundreds of discarded rockets, satellites, and other spacecraft.
About China's Tiangong-2 space station:
Tiangong-2 is an improved version of Tiangong-1, which is China's first space lab launched on September 15, 2016. According to reports, the space lab has worked in the orbit for over 1,000 days, which is much longer than its two-year designed life.
Tiangong-2 comprises an experiment module and a resource module. The space lab has a total length of 10.4 metres, the largest diameter of 3.35 metres and take-off weight of 8.6 tonnes. As per Xinhua news agency, it has functions of rendezvous and docking with the Shenzou manned spaceship and the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft.
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