China’s defunct Tiangong 1 space station is hurtling towards Earth and expected to re-enter the atmosphere within the next day. Most of it should burn up on re-entry, so scientists say it poses only a slight risk to people on the ground. The European Space Agency has forecast that the station will re-enter sometime between Sunday night and early Monday Irish time. Tiangong 1 is expected to come to Earth somewhere between 43 degrees north and 43 degrees south, a range covering most of the United States, China, Africa, southern Europe, Australia and South America. Only about 10 per cent of the 8½-tonne spacecraft is likely to survive re-entry.

Source: The Irish Times April 01, 2018 17:26 UTC