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21 August 2017
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After months of speculation, China has finally confirmed their first space station is heading for Earth and officials don't know where it is going to land.
In a press conference last week, a senior official with the Chinese space program said the country's first space station, Tiangong-1, which means "Heavenly Palace," is expected to fall into the Earth's atmosphere in the second half of 2017.
While officials said most of the space lab will burn up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, the location of where its remnants will land, and whether the country will have the ability to steer the space lab is unclear.
Harvard Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told The Guardian the announcement suggested China had lost control of the station and that it would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere "naturally."
"You really can't steer these things," he said. "Even a couple of days before it re-enters we probably won't know better than six or seven hours, plus or minus, when it's going to come down. Not knowing when it's going to come down translates as not knowing where it's going to come down."
McDowell added that while most of space station would burn up, the bigger parts—such as the rocket engines—wouldn't burn up completely and just the slightest change in atmospheric conditions could nudge the landing site "from one continent to the next."
"There will be lumps of about 100kg or so, still enough to give you a nasty wallop if it hit you," he said.
The 34-foot-long space station was in service for four and a half years, two and a half years longer than it was built for, and served as a stepping-stone toward a larger space complex that China wants to launch into Earth's orbit around 2020.
"Tiangong-1 has obtained a great deal of application and science data, which is valuable in mineral resources investigation, ocean and forest application, hydrologic and ecological environment monitoring, land use, urban thermal environment monitoring and emergency disaster control. Remarkable application benefits have been achieved," CMSE officials wrote in a 2014 statement.
It provided timely data during China's Yuyao flood disaster in 2013, and collected imagery of a devastating Australian forest fire as well.
A unique interactive website gives you a new perspective on your time on Earth.
BBC Earth's "Your life on earth" interactive takes your birthdate, gender and height to give you a personalized look at how the Earth has changed since you were born.
Factoids provided include: how many times your heart has beaten; how far you have travelled through space; the amount of sea level rise; how far the tectonic plates have moved; and the number of earthquakes and volcano eruptions experienced since your were born.
Find out what has changed during your life and compare with friends. The interactive website is available here.
Ever wondered what a year on Earth looks like from outer space? Well, thanks to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), you don't have to wonder anymore.
NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) snaps about one set of images—each image capturing a different set of wavelengths—of the sunlit side of Earth every two hours. More than 3,000 images shows what a year on our planet looks like. Every image captured by EPIC can be viewed on the camera's Twitter page.
EPIC views the sunrise and sunset at least 13 times a day from its place approximately 1 million miles away.
The images captured by the camera aren't just for fun. The images help scientists study changes in Earth's ozone, vegetation and clouds, Jay Herman, EPIC lead scientist, said.
"The hourly images of the entire sunlit side of Earth, provided by EPIC, will be used to study the daily variations of features over the entire globe, helping us to better understand—and protect—our home planet," Herman said.
DSCOVR was launched in February 2015 and sent back its first image of Earth in July 2015. EPIC has also captured phenomenons such as the moon "photobombing" Earth during its time in outer space. The satellite mission is a partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), NASA and the U.S. Air Force.
Watch the time lapse created by EPIC's photos below: