Debris from a Chinese rocket is set to crash Earth Sometime over the next few days, with the debris likely to descend over a large part of the globe.
A part of the Long March 5B rocket launched by China on July 24 will make an uncontrolled entry around July 31. aerospace Corp., a non-profit based in El Segundo, California, that receives funding from the US.
According to aerospace predictions, the potential debris zone includes the Americas as well as Africa, Australia, Brazil, India and Southeast Asia.
Concerns over China’s re-entry and its impact are being dismissed, however, with state-backed media saying the warnings are just “sour grapes” angered by the country’s development as a space power.
“The US is running out of ways to block China’s growth in the aerospace sector, so it is left with only smudges and defamation,” Global Times The newspaper reported, citing Song ZhongpingA television commentator who closely follows China’s space program.
Shanghai-based news site Guancha.cn said: “US and Western media deliberately exaggerate the potential for ‘loss of control’ of Chinese rocket debris and personal injury due to rocket debris.” Tuesday
The landing of the booster, which weighs 23 metric tons (25.4 tons), was a series of uncontrolled accidents that critics say highlights the risks of China’s escalating space race with the US.
“Due to the uncontrolled nature of its descent, there is a non-zero probability of remaining debris landing in a populated area – more than 88% of the world’s population lives under the potential debris footprint of reentry,” Aerospace said Tuesday.
In May 2021, fragments of another Long March rocket landed in the Indian Ocean, raising concerns that the Chinese space agency had lost control of it.
“It is clear that China has failed to meet its responsible standards with respect to space debris,” NASA administrator bill nelson said that month. “It is critical that China and all astronaut countries and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security and long-term stability of outer space activities.”
China’s most recent launch, which sent a module to the country’s space station, included a booster to put the spacecraft into orbit. That booster is now “dead” and beyond the control of the Chinese space agency, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics, which is operated by Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution.
“The Chinese are correct that the best bet is that it will fall into the ocean,” he said, although there are “a lot of populated areas” within range of the rocket booster.
McDowell said more debris could fall to Earth later this year, when China will launch another Long March rocket to the space station.
China is closely following the booster’s re-entry from this week’s launch, a foreign ministry spokesman said. zhao lijian Said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
“It is customary for international practice for the upper stages of rockets to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere,” Zhao said. “Since the research and development phase of the space engineering program, it has been designed with the idea of debris mitigation and orbit return.”
A part of the Long March 5B rocket launched by China on July 24 will make an uncontrolled entry around July 31. aerospace Corp., a non-profit based in El Segundo, California, that receives funding from the US.
According to aerospace predictions, the potential debris zone includes the Americas as well as Africa, Australia, Brazil, India and Southeast Asia.
Concerns over China’s re-entry and its impact are being dismissed, however, with state-backed media saying the warnings are just “sour grapes” angered by the country’s development as a space power.
“The US is running out of ways to block China’s growth in the aerospace sector, so it is left with only smudges and defamation,” Global Times The newspaper reported, citing Song ZhongpingA television commentator who closely follows China’s space program.
Shanghai-based news site Guancha.cn said: “US and Western media deliberately exaggerate the potential for ‘loss of control’ of Chinese rocket debris and personal injury due to rocket debris.” Tuesday
The landing of the booster, which weighs 23 metric tons (25.4 tons), was a series of uncontrolled accidents that critics say highlights the risks of China’s escalating space race with the US.
“Due to the uncontrolled nature of its descent, there is a non-zero probability of remaining debris landing in a populated area – more than 88% of the world’s population lives under the potential debris footprint of reentry,” Aerospace said Tuesday.
In May 2021, fragments of another Long March rocket landed in the Indian Ocean, raising concerns that the Chinese space agency had lost control of it.
“It is clear that China has failed to meet its responsible standards with respect to space debris,” NASA administrator bill nelson said that month. “It is critical that China and all astronaut countries and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security and long-term stability of outer space activities.”
China’s most recent launch, which sent a module to the country’s space station, included a booster to put the spacecraft into orbit. That booster is now “dead” and beyond the control of the Chinese space agency, said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics, which is operated by Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution.
“The Chinese are correct that the best bet is that it will fall into the ocean,” he said, although there are “a lot of populated areas” within range of the rocket booster.
McDowell said more debris could fall to Earth later this year, when China will launch another Long March rocket to the space station.
China is closely following the booster’s re-entry from this week’s launch, a foreign ministry spokesman said. zhao lijian Said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
“It is customary for international practice for the upper stages of rockets to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere,” Zhao said. “Since the research and development phase of the space engineering program, it has been designed with the idea of debris mitigation and orbit return.”