Questions tagged [tiangong-1]

For questions specifically about the Chinese Tiangong-1 space laboratory, which was launched in 2011.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
4 votes
3 answers
157 views

What is used to monitor objects burning up in the atmosphere on descent?

Tiangong 1 is expected to fall out of orbit and burn up somewhere this weekend. On March 12, 2018 people all over Western Washington State reported a flash and loud boom which is believed to be a ...
13 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why are Tiangong-1's Apogee and Perigee Graphs Wobbly?

The apogee and perigee graph of the Tiangong-1 space station, about to re-enter and break up Real Soon Now, is depicted in this graph (source: Wikipedia): Why are the graphs wobbly? Is it because the ...
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

Detailed radar imaging of Tiangong-1; how do they do that?

@JamesPoulose's answer shows an advanced radar image of Tiangong-1, 270 km from the Earth's surface. The images was sourced from Space.com's How Was China's Tiangong-1 Space Station Crash Tracked So ...
2 votes
1 answer
465 views

Why Celestrak has Archived TLEs for most space stations from Russia and the US, but not Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2 or Skylab?

Thinking about this question, I wanted to look at historical data. Then I noticed that while Celestrak does provide Archived TLE data for Salyut 7, Mir, Kvant-1, Kvant-2, Kristallm, Spektr, Priroda, ...
13 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is there real footage of Tiangong 1 reentry?

There are a couple of videos on the net showing some reentries and claiming them to be Tiangong 1. Is any of them authentic? I could not find any footage on the websites of the major space agencies (...
2 votes
1 answer
169 views

Where on Earth can one view the entry of tiangong-1?

I read a news article saying that the entry would be "spectacular" where and when can I view the entry. Will it be visible in the US?
5 votes
2 answers
566 views

Did Tiangong-1 turn the engines on?

The following graph shows the Tiangong-1 radius vector at the perigee, semi-major axis and apogee (scaled to 6371 km just to show an approximate altitude) and its orbit eccentricity: I used the SGP4 ...
3 votes
0 answers
183 views

Where to stream online Tiangong 1 descent?

Are there going to be good free live streams of the descent and if so is there much to be seen anyway?
4 votes
2 answers
347 views

PSLV-C39/IRNSS-1H TLE accuracy

The TLEs accuracy for PSLV-C39/IRNSS-1H seems low when compared to that of the other LEO satellites (ISS, HST, Tiangong, Sfera 2, ...). Look, for example, at the following graph that shows the radius ...
1 vote
1 answer
454 views

Why does N2YO list Tiangong 1 as an ISS satellite? Is it just a mistake? yes/no?

The page http://www.n2yo.com/satellites/?c=2 which lists "ISS SATELLITES" includes Tiangong 1. Since it looks to me like all of the other objects are associated with ISS, and Tiangong 1 is a different ...
16 votes
2 answers
1k views

Do we have any idea when Tiangong-1 will deorbit?

In March 2016 China's Manned Space Engineering Office announced that all Tiangong-1 telemetry had failed leaving no ability to safely control the space station's decent. With what we know about the ...
7 votes
1 answer
234 views

Will Earth, ISS, or Tiangong be the first habitat closest to Juno during Earth Flyby 2013?

Just a fun question (+: Juno is approaching Earth for a gravity assist on her way to Jupiter. Her approach will bring her, at the nearest point, a mere 559KM above Earth's surface. ISS orbits just ...
8 votes
1 answer
460 views

Cargo delivery from the ISS to Tiangong

Consider I have a 10 kg object I want to deliver from the ISS to Tiangong-1 station. The object can not go through the land and launch again cycle. Can any of the present day spacecrafts do the ...
5 votes
0 answers
521 views

Tiangong-1 reentry

I’m trying to understand what could happen when the Tiangong-1 will reenter the atmosphere (probably on march 2018). Starting from an initial state obtained from a TLE, I integrate the position and ...