See Radar Images Of China's Space Station Tumbling Around

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: Meldionne1
im Starting to see the news reports on TV now .... Anyone have a good guess yet as to where it when ?

It's still too high today (perigee of 174 km), so my guess it will probably reenter on April 2nd.

This map shows where it can fall (within the green area):

Well, that pretty much covers it! LOL

Do we know what direction as pertains to the "green" area of the map? If looking at the map, is it moving west to east?

a reply to: Jusvistn

Live tracking..
www.n2yo.com...

At the current altitude a lighter weight lower density satellite would have less than 12 hours before reentry.
Could mean more debris will survive since it is apparently quite massive.

So, we talking any bets?

What altitude will it lower to before it gets pulled down ? .... What is the magical number ?

a reply to: Meldionne1

Round about Midnight.

originally posted by: Cauliflower
a reply to: Meldionne1

Round about Midnight.

Is there a magical number to watch for altitude ? I've been tracking it on that website ... Not sure what the altitude should be for it to fall ?

a reply to: Meldionne1

The lower it goes, the more atmospheric resistance it encounters, so the slower it goes, so the lower it goes, etc. Once it got down around 100 miles or so it began the process.

Unlike other deorbited satellites there was no controlled burn to slow the satellite for a quick drop.
Even knowing the satellite density doesn't help much, the tumbling and upper atmospheric structure are both somewhat random.

a reply to: Zaphod58
This morning it was around 99 mi over colorado ... So that means it's started the decent ? When ... Or what mi number will it actually burn up ? .... And I'm assuming "mi " on the altitude is miles ?

a reply to: Meldionne1

It depends on way too many factors to be able to put a solid number on it. It might stay largely intact most of the way down to where the heavier atmosphere breaks it apart, or it could break into smaller pieces at 95 miles. There's no way to know.

a reply to: Zaphod58

have you had trouble at all this morning getting n2yo to load tracking?

a reply to: nepatitan

Yes I have on and off .... It's approaching the U.S. Again now .... Seems every 2 hours it's crossing the U.S. .... It was fluctuating between altitude 92 and 100 miles

a reply to: Meldionne1

Just finally got it to load after 30 mins or so. Not sure if its just my internet or what.
Very weird that I can't find anything on livestream about TIANGONG-1

a reply to: nepatitan

Yeah. I'm on mobile, and not all of the page loads. It's really slow to load most of the page and the current position doesn't always load.

a reply to: Zaphod58

yea thats what I was getting too, then it was just a red dot showing location. Stinks I'm on the east coast, may be a bit to far east to see anything but its cloudy and supposed to snow tonight, blah!

If it hits my landlords office in Michigan I'm buying every ATS member a drink!

oh wow I just saw the speed, decreased quite a bit since last night. Its not at 4.85 mi/s, I think before I went to bed it was around 7 mi/s

a reply to: nepatitan

Orbital frequency is still 87.6 minutes according to 2YO which is down from 89 minutes a few days ago.

a reply to: Cauliflower

lol I think I may have been looking at km/s last night, oops