Chinese Space Station Could Land in New Jersey
There is a ton of what they call space junk floating over our heads in space. As the saying goes, what goes up must come down. While some stuff is small and burns up in the atmosphere upon re-entry, others do make the journey and crash down to earth. According to Popular Science, in 2016 more than 200 pieces of that "space junk" fell to earth. In 2014 that number was over 600. Don't worry, there has only been one reported account of anyone getting hit by "space junk" and they walked away unharmed.
A Chinese space station named Tiangong-1 was launched in 2011. Back in 2016 the space station began to orbit out of control and scientists have been awaiting its return back to earth. Originally, the prediction of re-entry was a broad window between late February and late April. This window has become smaller and the approximate landing area has New Jersey in its path.
Let's zoom in a bit shall we?
That pixelated blob in the yellow band is our home state of New Jersey. The yellow band represents the area with a higher probability of Tiangong-1 landing there. It is impossible to predict exactly where the space station will land and the odds of it crash down on land is slim, but it could be interesting. Most large space junk falls into the ocean or into desolate areas.
The window of crash landing has narrowed to March 30th - April 2nd.
While the chances of the space station landing in New Jersey are relatively slim, keep your eyes peeled to the skies to perhaps catch a glimpse as it descends to earth.
Read more about "space junk" and Tiangong-1 from these resources:
More from Cat Country 107.3:
More From Cat Country 107.3
