Artists impression of Chinese space lab

A second Chinese space station has dipped alarmingly towards our planet, prompting experts to wonder if it’s reaching the end of its life.

Unlike Tiangong-1, which crashed to Earth earlier this year, it’s not believed that the Tiangong-2 space station is out of control – but it may be about to be decommissioned.

China’s government has said nothing.

From June 13 to 23, the space station went from 242 miles up down to 183 miles above Earth, says Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

The Tiangong-2 is largely unmanned, although Chinese astronauts stayed there in 2016.

China is banned from participating in the International Space Station.

Jonathan McDowell said, ‘My best fit to the data is that TG-2 reboosted at 0117 and 0202 UTC Jun 22, for a total delta-V of 56 m/s and a propellant usage of about 144 kg.

‘Possibly just testing out the spacelab’s engine reliability after 2 years in orbit, as part of end-of-life tests?’