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The Chinese space station Tiangong-2 has recently moved closer to Earth from its usual location for a brief period of ten days, raising questions about the future of the orbital laboratory.
Launched in 2016, Tiangong-2 has served as a test bench for the technologies that the country wants to integrate into Tianhe, its largest 100-tonne modular space station, which will be launched in low orbit by 2022. L & # 39; craft weighs 10 tons and has been used to plunge into advanced life support, replenishment and microgravity replenishment capabilities. He even hosted a two-person team for about 30 days, which is the longest human space mission in China to date.
However, just recently, the space station has come down from its usual orbit point in space, reported SpaceNews. Tiangong-2 normally operates about 390 km from the surface, but on June 13, it used two burns to fall to an approximate altitude of 183 miles, according to a report from the US Strategic Command joint force. Space component command.
Since there was no update from the China Space Engineering Bureau (CMSEO), which manages manned spaceflight and related missions for the country, many have gone to Twitter. to start a discussion on the surprise maneuver. However, before anyone could determine the purpose behind such a move, the space installation went back up and returned to its original orbit with another pair of burns. This has led many observers to think that this could be one of the first moves to decommission the space station and to disorientate it safely.
"My best fit to the data is that TG-2 was reboosted at 0117 and 0202 UTC on June 22, for a total V-delta of 56 m / s and a propellant utilization of about 144 kg," noted Jonathan McDowell, Harvard astronomer. Twitter. "Maybe just test the engine's reliability of space after 2 years in orbit, as part of the end-of-life tests?"
Although there is no official word yet on the status of the station, the idea of conducting a series of tests before dismantling makes sense, especially in the case of Tiangong-1, the less advanced predecessor of this facility that lost contact with ground stations. in 2016 and makes an uncontrolled comeback, fiery to splash in the Pacific, making headlines around the world.
In addition, they also left about 400 kg of propellant on the space station, which reinforces the idea of performing safe deorbiting tests. For "this specific propulsion system, maybe they would like additional data on orbit tests – especially to qualify the longevity of the system (measure performance after 2 years in orbit)", added McDowell in another tweet. "Perhaps you plan to use the same propulsion design on Tianhe."
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