ANTARIKSA — A large piece of Chinese space debris fell to Earth in Southern California on Tuesday, April 2 or Wednesday, April 3, early morning Indonesian time. The object rolled out as a burning ball of fire, and was witnessed by people from the Sacramento area to San Diego.
According to the American Meteor Society (AMS), as of Tuesday afternoon local time, 81 people had reported the appearance of this event. According to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, the piece of space debris is China’s Shenzhou 15 orbital module.
Shenzhou 15 launched three astronauts to the Tiangong space station in November 2022. This means it has been in orbit for the past two years.
The Shenzhou orbital module, which weighs about 1,500 kilograms, provides extra space for astronauts and science experiments in space. It was not designed to return to Earth safely after its mission ended. Meanwhile, the astronauts returned to Earth in another specially built Shenzhou module.
Jennifer M took a photo of a ball in the sky over Phelan, California on Tuesday 2 April 2024 local time. Image: Jennifer M./American Meteor Society
Of course, most people who saw the fireball around 1:40 a.m. California time had no idea what was crossing their skies. Some people think it may be part of SpaceX’s hardware.
This suspicion is not without reason. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched 22 Starlink internet satellites on California’s central coast about six hours earlier.
In fact, the burning debris was not the first stage of the Falcon 9. Because the hardware landed safely after launch to be reused. Even though the upper stage of the rocket can be thrown away, the fireball was definitely not from the Falcon 9.
The Shenzhou 15 orbital module is not the first Chinese space junk to fall back to Earth in such a dramatic manner. The 23-ton core stage of the Long March 5B rocket, whose launch helped build Tiangong Station, routinely falls to Earth in an uncontrolled manner.
However, it’s not just Chinese space junk that threatens life on Earth. Debris from other countries such as the US and Europe also often falls uncontrollably to Earth. Source: Space.com
2024-04-03 12:54:02
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