China's 8.5-ton space station is about to plunge to Earth

Thien Cung 1 station is flying out of control in orbit and is likely to fall to Earth in January 2018.

China's Thien Cung 1 space station stopped operating on March 16, 2016 and is about to fall through the Earth's atmosphere, Space.com reported on August 5.

Thien Cung 1 station launched into orbit in 2011. (Video: CCTV).

The Thien Cung 1 station was launched into orbit in 2011, having welcomed two Chinese astronauts and an unmanned spacecraft. During the time of operation, China periodically activated the propulsion to help the station keep the altitude in orbit.

However, after the Heavenly Palace 1 fell out of control in March last year, the atmosphere's resistance caused the station's trajectory to drop by about 160 meters per day. Thien Cung 1 Station has lowered from a height of about 400 km to 350 km.

"It is likely that this recovery will be out of control. We suspect Chinese authorities have lost control of Thien Cung 1 station and will not be able to restore control before the station returns to the atmosphere." , American Aerospace Corporation said.

At the current lowering speed, Thien Cung 1 station will surely fall to Earth. Experts predict the time of the fall from October 2017 to April 2018, according to the United Nations Space Operations Office (UNOOSA).The most likely is that the station will fall in January next year.

Thien Cung 1 station will fall to a position between 43 degrees north latitude and 43 degrees south latitude , from north Italy to southern New Zealand. The debris is thought to burn up when it passes through the atmosphere and the chances of people getting debris hit very low.

Thien Cung 1 station is gradually lowering the altitude in orbit.(Photo: Wikipedia).

However, any debris that falls to the ground can contain toxic chemicals called hydrazine and people are advised not to touch.

The largest artificial object ever returned to the atmosphere is the Mir space station in 2001. The station weighs 120 tons and some of the station's fragments can be seen from the ground.

Thien Cung 1 station is quite small compared to Mir station, weighing only 8.5 tons. However, depending on the time of falling, some flaming debris can see clearly for a few minutes while flying across the sky.