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May 9, 2021
Most of the segment of the rocket that landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday morning near the Maldives disintegrated and was destroyed on re-entering the atmosphere.
Image above: It is the first stage of the Long March-5B carrier rocket, the most powerful and imposing Chinese launcher, that has fallen to Earth.
A large segment of the Chinese rocket that made its return to the atmosphere on Sunday disintegrated over the Indian Ocean on Sunday, the Chinese space agency said, after strong speculation on where the object of 18 tons could fall.
China's statement on the Long March-5B Y2 deorbit
"According to the monitoring and analysis, at 10:24 a.m. (4:24 a.m. Swiss time) on May 9, 2021, the first stage of the Long March-5B carrier rocket re-entered the atmosphere," the Chinese Space Engineering Bureau said. inhabited in a statement, providing the coordinates of a point located in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives and adding that the majority of this segment disintegrated and was destroyed on re-entering the atmosphere. The Chinese authorities had said that the uncontrolled return of the segment of the Long March-5B rocket, which had placed the first module of its space station in orbit on April 29, presented little risk.
"The rocket has fallen"
Space-Track, which used US military data, confirmed entry into the atmosphere. “Everyone who follows the re-entry of # LongMarch5B can relax. The rocket has fallen, ”he tweeted.
The segment's fall point matches the predictions of some experts that there was a good chance they would damage at sea because the planet is 70% covered with water. But an uncontrolled entry of an object of this size raised concerns about damage and possible casualties, despite the low statistical probability.
"It was reckless"
"The probability of causing damage to air activities or (people, buildings and activities) on the ground is extremely low," Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said last week. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said this week that his country had no intention of destroying the rocket. He hinted, however, that its launch was not carefully planned by China. US and European space authorities have been monitoring the situation closely, trying to determine when and where it could fall.
In 2020, debris from another Long March rocket crashed into villages in Côte d'Ivoire, causing damage but no injuries. To prevent such scenarios from happening again, experts have recommended a redesign of the Long March-5B rocket - which lacks the ability to control its descent from orbit.
Chinese rocket debris falls near Maldives into Indian Ocean
"An entry (into the atmosphere) over the ocean has always been statistically the most likely," tweeted Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard-based astronomer. “It looks like China has won its bet (unless we have news of debris in the Maldives). But it was still reckless, "he said.
China has been investing billions of euros in its space program for several decades. She sent her first astronaut into space in 2003 and landed a craft on the far side of the moon in early 2019 - a world first. Last year, moon samples were reported and Beijing finalized its satellite navigation system, Beidou (competitor to US GPS). China plans to land a robot on Mars in the coming weeks. She also announced that she wanted to build a lunar base with Russia.
Related articles:
New data on the de-orbit of the 2nd stage of the Long March 5B rocket
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/05/new-data-on-de-orbit-of-2nd-stage-of.html
Chinese rocket falling - "extremely low" risk on Earth
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/05/chinese-rocket-falling-extremely-low.html
CASC - Long March-5B Y2 launches the Tianhe Core Module
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/04/casc-long-march-5b-y2-launches-tianhe.html
For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), visit: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html
Images, Video, Text, Credits: CASC/AFP/Twitter/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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