CHINA — China's Tiangong-1 space station will crash into Earth within the next few months, according to experts.
The Tiangong-1 was launched in 2011 as part of China's push to become a space superpower and has been used for manned and unmanned missions, the Guardian reported.
In 2016, Chinese officials confirmed that they lost control of the space station and that it would crash to Earth in 2017 or 2018.
The station's orbit has been steadily decaying ever since then. Over the past few weeks, the 8.5-tonne station has dipped below 300 km in altitude. When the Tiangong-1 was operational, the lab orbited at an altitude of 370 km.
The lower the altitude, the denser the atmosphere and the faster the Tiangong-1 will burn up.
Most of the space station is expected to disintegrate in the atmosphere, but experts say some parts weighing up to 100 kg could reach the Earth's surface, the Guardian reported.
China's space agency has told the UN it expects the Tiangong-1 to come down between October 2017 and April 2018.
