Washington: Debris from a large Chinese rocket re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean at 12:45 p.m. Eastern Time, the US Space Command said on Saturday.
“USSPACECOM can confirm that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Long March 5B (CZ-5B) re-entered the Indian Ocean at 7/30 at approximately 10:45 a.m. MDT. We’ll refer you to the PRC for more information.” On technical aspects of reentry like potential debris dispersion + impact location,” the tweet read.
#USSPACECOM The People’s Republic of China (PRC) can confirm Long March 5B (CZ-5B) re-entering the Indian Ocean at approximately 10:45 a.m. MDT at 7/30. we refer you #PRC For more information on the technical aspects of reentry, such as potential debris dispersion + impact location. — US Space Command (@US_SpaceCom) 30 July 2022
China launched a 23-ton Long March-5B Y3 carrier rocket from the Wenchang spacecraft launch site off the coast of the southern island province of Hainan on July 24 (Beijing time), according to China Manned. Space Agency (CMSA).
CMSA confirmed that the Ventian separated from the rocket and successfully entered the planned orbit. CNN reported that the rocket had since descended uncontrollably toward Earth’s atmosphere — the third time China has been accused of not properly handling space debris from its rocket stage. Since then space observers have been tracking the rocket’s phase path in Earth orbit because there was little chance that it might come down in a populated area.
“No other country leaves these 20-ton things in orbit to re-enter in an uncontrolled way,” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told CNN.
Shortly after US Command confirmed the re-entry, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson issued a statement on Twitter that China “did not share specific trajectory information as their Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth.”
He added that all astronaut countries should follow established best practices and that countries should “share this type of information in advance to allow reliable predictions of potential debris impact risk, particularly on Long March 5″. For heavy-duty vehicles such as B, which carry a significant risk of loss of life and property.”
“Doing so is critical to the responsible use of space and ensuring the safety of people on Earth,” Nelson said. The remnants of the rocket re-entered the atmosphere at around 12:55 a.m. Beijing time on Sunday — or about 12:55 a.m. ET Saturday, the China Manned Space Agency said in a statement.
The agency linked most of the remains burned during the re-entry process on the Sulu Sea, a body of water between the island of Borneo and the Philippines.
People in Sarawak, a province of Malaysia on the island of Borneo, reported sightings of rocket debris on social media, leading many to believe the first pyrotechnics were a meteor shower or a comet.
Videos posted online showed images of rocket boosters burning in the atmosphere over Malaysia, CNN reported. Notably, it was the third flight of China’s largest rocket, the Long March 5B, and the 24th flight mission since the country’s manned space program was approved and launched.
The construction of China’s Tiangong space station is expected to be completed this year. It will then evolve from a single-module structure into a National Space Laboratory with three modules – the core module, Tianhe and two lab modules, Ventian and Mengtian, according to local media.
The Tianhe module was launched in April 2021, and the Mengtian module is scheduled to be launched in October this year.