Update: ‘Irresponsible’: Nasa chides China as rocket debris lands in Indian Ocean
Massive 18-ton chunk of China’s Long March space rocket is set to crash back to Earth TONIGHT
Daily Mail|2 hours ago The Long March space rocked is expected to make an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere at around 2300 GMT, but Beijing has downplayed fears that it could cause damage.
CZ-5B/2021-035B orbital decay with predicted reentry
A Chinese Long March (Chang Zheng) CZ-5B rocket launched the first module of the Chinese Space Station (Tianhe) into a circular orbit ranging between 340km and 450km above Earth. With a takeoff weight of 22.5 tonnes it is the largest and heaviest spacecraft ever built in China. The core rocket stage is estimated to be cylindrical with dimensions of 5 x 33.2 meters (16.4 x 108.9 feet) and a dry mass of about 18 metric tons (19.8 tons). The core booster used to lift Tianhe did not make the deorbit burn that would have allowed for a more controlled and predictable re-entry and on the 4th of May 2021 the 5B booster began an uncontrolled re-entry.
Biden Says Don’t Worry About China
Continue reading →