Talk:Tiangong-1

00:15 or 00:16?

Which is it? The article reports both. Dreigorich (talk) 13:41, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

@Dreigorich: The Chinese government says 00:15, the US military says 00:16. This is layed out in the infobox, but each mention of the re-entry time should either indicate the source or present both times. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 13:50, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

In the section Re-entry, "Tiangong-1 reentered the Earth's atmosphere at 00:16 UTC on 2 April 2018 over the South Pacific Ocean." But in the lead, "Tiangong-1 reentered over the South Pacific Ocean, northwest of Tahiti, on 2 April 2018 at 00:15 UTC." Dreigorich (talk) 13:52, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

The two times also yield different reentry locations: The earlier one appears to be roughly 120 km WSW of Suwarrow, and the later one appears to be roughly 200 km SW of Tubuai. These are separated by over 1800 km! --Lasunncty (talk) 09:43, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

With the very flat trajectory of an uncontrolled entry, the "re-entry point" as a point doesn't really exist. It's a transition phase from the object's course is dominated by orbital mechanics with only minor atmospheric drag to the course is dominated by significant atmospheric drag that has taken over. It can last one or two minutes. Maybe we should reflect that in the article. --Zac67 (talk) 10:49, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Agree with that! We should convey to our readers how fast these things fly. — JFG ^talk 07:01, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Image request tag?

This article has many illustrations. I'm curious if the image request tag at the top of this page is necessary. ---Another Believer _(Talk) 04:44, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Why isn't it needed? There isn't a real photo of the real station on this page. -- 70.51.203.56 (talk) 05:33, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

But could there ever be a real photo? Any such photo would've been taken by the Chinese government, and unlike works created by the US government, they wouldn't be automatically in the public domain. I doubt that any freely licensed images of the station exist. --Ahecht (TALK
PAGE) 15:10, 4 April 2018 (UTC)

Why is that a problem? There are no interior images of Tiangong-1 and that would improve the understanding of the station, so should be able to be used under WP:NFCC with an WP:NFUR. The station no longer exists, and as you said, no free image could have ever been created, that also follows NFCC. -- 70.51.203.56 (talk) 04:39, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Also, real satellite spotter photos for the station should be available, which would provide context on how the station looks like in space from the ground, and satellite flares of the station. -- 70.51.203.56 (talk) 04:55, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Radar imaging

The Fraunhofer Institute has imaged TG1 in its final days with radar. [1][2][3] Unfortunately, (C) All Rights Reserved.

As it relates to images for this page, I do not think an NFUR for this is better than an NFUR for an actual photo. Perhaps an external link?

-- 70.51.203.56 (talk) 02:24, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Witness

I've added a short segment based on this source: https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/polynesie/satellite-tiangong-1-s-est-ecrase-au-large-maupiti-574929.html Can someone translate properly those videos and expand the article? Thanks --79.42.93.21 (talk) 10:15, 28 August 2020 (UTC)