Space & Astronomy

Second Chinese space station acting strangely

By T.K. Randall
June 26, 2018

Image: Chinese Tiangong Space Station
Credit: Shujianyang / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) The perplexing maneuver has sparked rumors suggesting that the station, which serves as a test facility for new space technologies, may soon be decommissioned.

The station's predecessor, Tiangong-1, plummetted back to Earth in an uncontrolled descent that saw it crash in to the Pacific Ocean back in April of this year.Details of the change in orbit were published by the US Strategic Command's Joint Force Space Component Command before being commented on by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

"My best fit to the data is that TG-2 reboosted at 0117 and 0202 UTC Jun 22, for a total delta-V of 56 m/s and a propellant usage of about 144 kg," McDowell wrote on Twitter. "Possibly just testing out the spacelab's engine reliability after 2 years in orbit, as part of end-of-life tests ?"

Despite requests for information, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) has so far failed to offer any sort of explanation for the station's unusual behavior.

Source: Science Alert

Tags: Tiangong-2