If you are a follower of this blog you may now be wondering, what the heck is going on over there at DecoScience? They seem all little doom and gloom. We are only writing about what is current in the world of science, education, and/or art and a lot of crazy things have been happening as of late. This week too proves to be exciting, suspenseful, and a bit like Chicken Little…beware the falling skies! Henny Penny had his acorn but we could have something a little bigger drop on our heads.
Between the dates of March 30 and April 3, China’s first prototype space station Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace-1) will come crashing back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry. This 8-ton, school bus sized spacecraft’s re-entry was originally supposed to be controlled by its handlers using its thrusters to guide it through the atmosphere. That was the plan but the craft has stopped sending data back and is now uncontrollable. Consequently it will fall back to Earth on its own, dependent on atmospheric drag.
The spacecraft is estimated to de-orbit (LOVE this term) somewhere between 42 degrees North latitude and 42 degrees south where it loops around the planet twice every three hours. (Point Pelee, ON is the only Canadian locations that actually falls within this area and as it is such an important region ecologically speaking, let us hope it doesn’t crash here.) Anything more precise is unknowable until it actually comes down but statistically it would most likely fall into the ocean because approximately 71 percent of the Earth is covered in water.
Experts say that there isn’t anything to worry about though; there is a higher chance of winning the lottery or even being struck by lightning than being hit by debris. Most of the craft should be burnt up on re-entry. The Tiangong-1 is only a tenth of the mass of either NASA’s Skylab or Russia’s Mir space station and when both of those came down, only a small portion of the debris made to surface (and only in unpopulated areas). In the 60 years since we have been sending things into space only one person has ever been hit by falling debris. This was a portion of a rocket which hit Lottie Williams of Tulsa, OK in the shoulder which was said to feel like a like a light tap.
People living in the area under its flight path will have the best chance to see it. Like the International Space Station, Tiangong-1 is visible to the naked eye. You could keep an eye on it by using a tracking website such as Heavens Above. If you are lucky enough to see it while going through re-entry, you might be treated to a light show. Now, if you happen to have it fall into your yard, you may want to stay away from it. The craft is carrying a toxic and corrosive chemical called hydrazine which is used in rocket fuel and it is best to avoid exposure to it unless you want to grow an extra arm (not really, but it is a carcinogen and would make you feel less than 100% if you breathed in its fumes). The good thing about hydrazine is that it is highly combustible so it most likely would burn up on re-entry but better safe than sorry; do not pick up this fallen body.
There are also a collection of international laws pertaining to objects from space. China reserves its ownership of it even if it lands in your yard but if it takes out your house China may also be liable to pay for the damages. The United Nations Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects states that any damage, injury, or loss of life caused by a country’s space object, that country is absolutely liable for compensating the injured individual. Claims would have to be launched (pun intended) through diplomatic channels within one year of the accident. When the Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 crashed and released radioactive material in northwestern Canada in 1978, Canada asked for $6 million dollars in compensation of which half was eventually paid by the Soviet Union.
With over 50,000 satellites and space junk that is circling this planet, it is a wonder that this kind of thing does not happen more often. More often satellites collide with each thus other creating even more debris than falling to earth but it will be interesting to see how this all plays out this weekend. If we are lucky it will be as uneventful as all that millennium hoopla or the end-of-times 2012 prediction. Both times I was really hoping for a zombie apocalypse.
Keep your eyes to the skies and maybe you will get to see something spectacular without that spectacle hitting you in the head or taking out your beloved car.
–Janice Willson
Reference:
https://www.space.com/40076-chinese-space-station-crash-to-earth-guide.html
*Photo Source: NASA (Cygnus 3 re-entry, 2017)
