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May 7, 2021
State Corporation Roscosmos continues to monitor the uncontrolled de-orbiting of the second stage of the Chinese heavy launch vehicle Long March 5B, which launched on April 29, 2021 from the Wenchang cosmodrome and launched the Tianhe (Milky Way) base module of the future space station.
This stage has no means of active de-orbit maneuver and carries out an uncontrolled descent. The main information and analytical center of the Automated System for Warning of Dangerous Situations in Near-Earth Space TsNIIMash (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) organized the collection and processing of information coming through the stage of the Long March 5B launch vehicle.
According to preliminary information, part of the stage structures will cease to exist in the dense layers of the atmosphere, however, individual non-combustible structural elements can reach the earth's surface.
The object is steadily losing its orbit height. So, for the next day of observation of the stage of the launch vehicle, its apogee decreased by another 18 km and is 267 km, and the perigee - by 3 km to 156 km. According to calculations, as of May 7, 2021, the object can enter the Earth's atmosphere at night Moscow time on May 9 over the Pacific Ocean.
In the presence of conditions of optical visibility, observations of the stage of the Long March 5B launch vehicle are carried out by optoelectronic monitoring means of the APSS OKP.
ROSCOSMOS Press Release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/31007/
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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
Images, Animation, Graphic, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/TsNIIMash/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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