"Based on our calculation and analysis, most parts of the space lab will burn up during falling," said Wu Ping, deputy director of China's manned space engineering office, during the press conference.
The officials said that the space agency will continue to follow the movement of Tiangong-1 and will release an update on its expected time of arrival if required.
The 10.3-meter-long (34-foot-long) Tiangong-1, which means “Heavenly Palace," was launched in 2011 as China’s first manned space station. It ended its mission in March this year. However, since then, numerous astronomers noted the space station appeared to be aimlessly drifting out of control and heading for Earth. The silence by the Chinese government only heightened uncertainties.
The officials did not comment on how much of the space station they still maintain. However, given the vague estimated landing time, it suggests very little.
China launched a new experimental space station, Tiangong-2, last week, and are planning to launch a fully fledged space station next decade.
History :
Skylab was the United States' first space station, orbiting Earth from 1973 to 1979, when it fell back to Earth amid huge worldwide media attention.
Mir was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, run by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. Mir was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996.
Progress M-34 was a Russian unmanned cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1997 to resupply the Mir space station, and which subsequently collided with Mir during a docking attempt, resulting in significant damage to the space station.
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