CHINA — China's Tiangong-1 space station will crash into Earth within the next few months, according to experts. <br /> <br />The Tiangong-1 was launched in 2011 as part of China's push to become a space superpower and has been used for manned and unmanned missions, the Guardian reported. <br /> <br />In 2016, Chinese officials confirmed that they lost control of the space station and that it would crash to Earth in 2017 or 2018. <br /> <br />The station's orbit has been steadily decaying ever since then. Over the past few weeks, the 8.5-tonne station has dipped below 300 km in altitude. When the Tiangong-1 was operational, the lab orbited at an altitude of 370 km. <br /> <br />The lower the altitude, the denser the atmosphere and the faster the Tiangong-1 will burn up. <br /> <br />Most of the space station is expected to disintegrate in the atmosphere, but experts say some parts weighing up to 100 kg could reach the Earth's surface, the Guardian reported. <br /> <br />China's space agency has told the UN it expects the Tiangong-1 to come down between October 2017 and April 2018.
