China's Tiangong-1 space station is likely to fall into the Earth's atmosphere late in 2017, according to a senior official associated with the country's manned space program.

Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011. The space station terminated its data service in March this year. It was operational for four and a half years; surpassing its designed life by two and a half years.

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Wu Ping, deputy direction of the manned space engineering office, said that the space lab is currently intact. It is orbiting at an average height of 370 kilometers. Through its lifetime, the station had docked with Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft in November 2011, June 2012, and June 2013 respectively.

According to Xinhua, Wu said that a large part of the space lab is likely to burn up during the fall. Ping stated that the fall is not likely to cause any damage to the ground or affect aviation activities. China would monitor the space station on a continuous basis and will issue early warnings about any possible collision.

Space reported that the assertions suggest that China may no longer be in control of the station. If the station was under control, it could have been steered to a guided re-entry at a specified time and location. China is not part of the consortium managing International Space Station. The country is working to have its own space station operational in Earth orbit by 2022.

China launched Tiangong-2, the successor to Tiangong-1, on September 15 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

TagsTiangong-1, Tiangong-2, china, International Space Station