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TIANGONG-1 Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace) is the first China’s space station, which was used as a testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities of China. The station was launched in September 2011 into a Leo orbit (around 400 km of altitude) and then visited by a series of spacecrafts, including the manned Shenzhou 9, which brought the first China’s female astronaut onboard the station on June 2012. On March 2016 the communication with the station was lost, and in September 2016 the China’s space agency officially declared the station out of control. Since then, Tiangong-1 started its relentless and uncontrolled descend toward the Earth atmosphere. The following tables and figures report the predicted re-entry time and the ground bands where the re-enter may occur, according to the current available data. Predictions will become more accurate as the re-entry time approaches.
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29-Mar 15:25 UTC - New re-entry prediction issued
30-Mar 15:43 UTC - The re-entry date is only 2 days away, however, the spread between the different prediction sources is still unusually large
30-Mar 22:05 UTC - New predictions added: time uncertainty decreased to 10 hours for the first time
31-Mar 14:01 UTC - Re-entry predictions are shifting toward late evening of April 1 (UTC)
01-Apr 09:21 UTC - The re-entry is only a few hours away but we still have a rather wide window that spans from 1 Apr 13:00 to 2 Apr 09:00 (UTC)
01-Apr 12:47 UTC - Table and Figures updated based on the last orbital parameters (50 minutes old).
01-Apr 15:35 UTC - Figures updated with last availble measurements - Previous re-entry window confirmed
01-Apr 20:57 UTC - Table updates
01-Apr 23:25 UTC - US-StratCom confirmed their last prediction: 2 Apr, 00:48 (±02 hours) - Re-entry IMMINENT
Last update: 02 Apr 01:53 UTC
According to US-StratCom, Tiangong-1 has re-entered at 00:16 UTC, Apr 2, 2018
TIANGONG-1 Decay Predictions and current orbital parameters
| Prediction Source | Date of Prediction | Predicted Reentry Date (UTC) |
Reentry Bands* |
| Aerospace Corp. | 01-Apr-2018 (20:30 UTC) |
2 Apr, 00:30 (±1.7 hours) |
Click to view Ground Bands |
| US-StratCom | 01-Apr-2018 (18:30 UTC) |
2 Apr, 00:48 (±02 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| ESA | 01-Apr-2018 (21h UTC) |
2 Apr, 01:00 (±02 hours) |
Click to view Ground Bands |
* regions with higher re-entry probability are highlighted with dark red color bands.
** values derived from description. See prediction source link for more info.
Fig.1 - Decay predictions.
Click here to find passes over your location
Altitude Changes
 Fig.2 - Perigee value.
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 Fig.3 - Apogee value.
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Re-entry ground bands
(02 Apr 23:12 UTC)
Past Decay Predictions
| Prediction Source | Date of Prediction | Predicted Reentry Date (UTC) |
Reentry Bands* |
| SatFlare | 01-Apr-2018 (17:48 UTC) |
1 Apr, 23:34 (±5 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| US-StratCom | 01-Apr-2018 (12:30 UTC) |
2 Apr, 00:47 (±03 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 31-Mar-2018 (23h UTC) |
2 Apr, 02:00 (±07 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| ESA | 01-Apr-2018 (10h UTC) |
2 Apr, 04:00 (±04 hours)** |
Click to view Ground Bands |
| US-StratCom | 31-Mar-2018 (23:50 UTC) |
2 Apr, 00:15 (±06 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| SatFlare | 31-Mar-2018 (14:57 UTC) |
1 Apr, 20:15 (±12 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| ESA | 31-Mar-2018 (9h UTC) |
1 Apr, 23:25 (±10 hours) |
Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 31-Mar-2018 (22h UTC) |
1 Apr, 23:53 (±07 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 31-Mar-2018 (19h UTC) |
1 Apr, 23:30 (±07 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 31-Mar-2018 (14h UTC) |
1 Apr, 20:30 (±08 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 30-Mar-2018 (23h UTC) |
1 Apr 2018, 16:15 (±9 hours) |
Click to view Ground Bands |
| ESA | 30-Mar-2018 | from: night 31 Mar to: late evening 1 Apr |
Not available |
| Aerospace Corp. | 30-Mar-2018 (18h UTC) |
1 Apr 2018, 15:15 (±14 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| US-StratCom | 29-Mar-2018 (01:49 UTC) |
1 Apr 2018, 00:52 (±15 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| SatFlare | 29-Mar-2018 (15:25 UTC) |
1 Apr 2018, 06:38 (±26 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 29-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018, 14:00 (±16 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| SatFlare | 29-Mar-2018 (10:12 UTC) |
1 Apr 2018, 05:45 (±30 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| US-StratCom | 28-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018, 01:57 (±19 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 28-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018, 07:15 (±20 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| SatFlare | 28-Mar-2018 (11:29 UTC) |
1 Apr 2018, 05:07 (±34 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 27-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018, 00:00 (±36 hours) | not available |
| SatFlare | 27-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018, 06:56 (±36 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Satview.org | 25-Mar-2018 | 2 Apr 2018, 03:09 (±8 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| SatFlare | 24-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018, 06:00 (±38 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 22-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018 (±3 days) | not available |
| SatFlare | 22-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018, 06:00 (±40 hours) | Click to view Ground Bands |
| Aerospace Corp. | 20-Mar-2018 | 1 Apr 2018 (±4 days) | not available |
| SatFlare | 13-Mar-2018 | 2 Apr 2018 (±2 days) | Click to view Ground Bands |
Some last Opportunities to see Tiangong-1 with the naked eye before re-enter
| Location |
Date and time of pass (UTC) |
Details | 3D Simulation |
| South Africa, Cape Town | 29-Mar-2018, 17:24 |
Elevation 10°, Magnitude 3.6 | Click hero to simulate pass |
| Japan, Tokyo | 29-Mar-2018, 19:31 |
Elevation 34°, Magnitude 1.4 | Click hero to simulate pass |
| Greece, Athens | 30-Mar-2018, 02:52 |
Elevation 12°, Magnitude 3.8 | Click hero to simulate pass |
| Italy, Rome | 30-Mar-2018, 04:21 |
Elevation 14°, Magnitude 2.8 | Click hero to simulate pass |