Pentagon tracking out-of-control Chinese rocket that could reenter Earth's atmosphere
Source: CNN
Washington(CNN)The Pentagon has said it is tracking a large Chinese rocket that is out of control and set to reenter Earth's atmosphere this weekend, raising concerns about where its debris may make impact.
The Chinese Long March 5B rocket is expected to enter Earth's atmosphere "around May 8," according to a statement from Defense Department spokesperson Mike Howard, who said the US Space Command is tracking the rocket's trajectory.
The rocket's "exact entry point into the Earth's atmosphere" can't be pinpointed until within hours of reentry, Howard said, but the 18th Space Control Squadron will provide daily updates on the rocket's location through the Space Track website. The rocket was used by the Chinese to launch part of their space station last week. While most space debris objects burn up in the atmosphere, the rocket's size -- 22 tons -- has prompted concern that large parts could reenter and cause damage if they hit inhabited areas.
Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/05/04/politics/chinese-rocket-earth-scn/index.html
Wear yer helmet!
cinematicdiversions
(1,969 posts)orangecrush
(19,572 posts)Explain please?
cinematicdiversions
(1,969 posts)Translation at top: Chinese ignition (rocket launch) VS India ignition (burning bodies)
Translation at bottom: how Chinese send people to heaven vs how India send people to heaven.
orangecrush
(19,572 posts)Budi
(15,325 posts)localroger
(3,629 posts)Budi
(15,325 posts)Oh well!
ExTex
(2,138 posts)]
Is that the U.S.?
colorado_ufo
(5,734 posts)Budi
(15,325 posts)chowder66
(9,073 posts)orangecrush
(19,572 posts)But it's coming down!
lindysalsagal
(20,692 posts)Polybius
(15,433 posts)Of all the billions of people in the world, you think it's gonna hit you?
chowder66
(9,073 posts)AllaN01Bear
(18,261 posts)i hope that that thing dosent hit a populated area.
orangecrush
(19,572 posts)marie999
(3,334 posts)orangecrush
(19,572 posts)marble falls
(57,106 posts)Sapient Donkey
(1,568 posts)marble falls
(57,106 posts)Active 1966 1975
1990 2004
2016 present - only 23 out of the last 45 years.
And it's never lost it's never lost its ability to amuse.
Marcuse
(7,488 posts)Owl
(3,642 posts)Thanks!
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Assignment: Earth.
Owl
(3,642 posts)Ford_Prefect
(7,901 posts)Bayard
(22,100 posts)dalton99a
(81,516 posts)Landing on the dark side of the moon one day, and randomly letting garbage fall back down the next
Last time they launched a Long March 5B rocket they ended up with big long rods of metal flying through the sky and damaging several buildings in the Ivory Coast, he said.
Most of it burned up, but there were these enormous pieces of metal that hit the ground. We are very lucky no one was hurt.
OnlinePoker
(5,722 posts)This was from a launch last year. It doesn't look like the Chinese give a shit.
------------------------------------
The odds of a piece of space debris falling back to Earth and striking a person are extremely low
. But it looks like a Chinese rocket nearly achieved the improbable.
Last week, China took a major step toward
its goal of completing its own space station by 2022 when its Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket successfully launched a prototype of Chinas new-generation manned spacecraft. By Monday, some people were talking about the rocket for a less celebratory reason.
In the re-entry
of one of the largest pieces of uncontrolled space debris ever to fall back on Earth, the rockets core stage reportedly plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the northwestern coast of Africa. Then later reports suggested that parts of it might have hit two villages in the West African country Côte d'Ivoire.
https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/article/3084441/debris-chinese-heavy-lift-rocket-might-have-hit-cote-divoire-villages
speak easy
(9,259 posts)tonekat
(1,816 posts)More specifically, near (hopefully not on) the Maldives:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/08/science/china-rocket-reentry-falling-long-march-5b.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage