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Nov 4, 2022
Spain briefly closed part of its airspace on Friday as debris from a Chinese rocket ripped through the area and disrupted air traffic over several cities.
Barcelona airport. (File photo) Image Credit: REUTERS
Air flights were "totally" suspended for 40 minutes on Friday in Catalonia (northeastern Spain), as well as in other northern regions of the country, "due to the risks associated with the passage of the space object CZ-5B in Spanish airspace”, tweeted the civil protection of Catalonia.
Twitter / Catalonia Civil Protection
The partial closure of the airspace began at 09:38 local time (08:38 GMT), the same source said. As a result, flights from or to Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, but also Tarragona, Reus or Ibiza, in the Mediterranean archipelago of the Balearic Islands, suffered disruptions, underlined the national airport manager, Aena.
The Long March 5B rocket took off on October 31. Image Credit: AFP
The Long March 5B (CZ-5B) rocket lifted off from southern China on Monday to deliver the last module for a Chinese space station currently under construction. Debris from that rocket fell into the Pacific Ocean at 11:01 a.m. Spanish time (10:01 a.m. GMT), US Space Command said in a tweet.
Entering a rocket's atmosphere gives off immense heat and friction, segments can then burn up and disintegrate, but larger craft, like the Long March-5B, may not be entirely destroyed. The risk is then that their debris will land on the surface of the earth and cause damage or even victims, even if this risk is low, the planet being covered with 70% of water.
Not a first
This is not the first time that China has lost control of a space object during a return to Earth. In July, the remains of a Chinese rocket fell into the Sulu Sea in the Philippines, angering US officials, including those at NASA, who blamed Beijing for not sharing the information. on the potentially dangerous fall of this debris.
In 2020, debris from another Long March rocket crashed into villages in Côte d'Ivoire, causing damage but no injuries. The Asian giant has been investing billions of euros for several decades in its space program.
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https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/10/china-space-station-css-mengtian.html
NASA Administrator Statement on Chinese Space Debris
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/07/nasa-administrator-statement-on-chinese.html
Nasa criticises China after space rocket makes uncontrolled return to Earth
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/31/nasa-criticises-china-after-space-rocket-makes-uncontrolled-return-to-earth
China Space Station (CSS) - Wentian launch
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/07/china-space-station-css-wentian-launch.html
Chinese rocket debris falls into Indian Ocean
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2021/05/chinese-rocket-debris-falls-into-indian.html
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
Related links:
For more information about China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), visit: http://english.spacechina.com/n16421/index.html
For more information about China National Space Administration (CNSA), visit: http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: AFP/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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