Remains of a Chinese rocket, which launched the main module from the future Chinese space station, may fall to Earth in the next few days, DPA reported.
Experts have warned of the possibility of an “uncontrolled” entry into the atmosphere of the main part of the rocket weighing about twenty tons.
The Changzheng 5B missile is designed so that its main body cannot be controlled and with a given trajectory falls into the sea at a predetermined place.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, USA, said it was unknown where the rocket would fall. According to him, in the worst case, the impact would look like “crashing a small plane, but for several hundred kilometers,” he told DPA.
It is not clear how many fragments will remain after the rocket enters the atmosphere, but according to the expert, they will be enough to cause damage.
Since the main stage of the rocket orbits the Earth every ninety minutes, it is not clear exactly when and where it is possible to enter the atmosphere and burn partially.
“Most likely, the main stage will fall in an uninhabited place like the world’s oceans, which cover about 70 percent of the planet,” wrote expert Andrew Jones at spacenews.com. “The chances of being hit by space debris are extremely slim, such as one in several trillion,” he said.
The wreckage of the first Changzheng 5B flight in May 2020 crashed in Côte d’Ivoire six days after the rocket was fired, damaging several houses. It was the largest spacecraft to fall to Earth since the US space lab Skylab in 1979.
The US space agency NASA then described the event as “very dangerous”. Earlier, the missile flew over US territory.
McDowell criticizes China that the new missile does not meet modern standards. The other countries are doing everything to ensure that the remnants of their rockets do not remain in orbit and set a trajectory for their fall into the sea.
“With Changzheng 5B E doing none of this, they designed the main stage to stay in orbit and enter the atmosphere a week later at random. This design approach shows negligence compared to current standards followed by other countries. “, he said.
The rocket successfully launched the main module of the future Chinese space station into orbit last Thursday. The next launches of Changzheng 5B rockets are planned, which should launch the other two modules of the station, which is expected to be completed around 2022.
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