The Chinese rocket, live: when and where the Long March 5B will fall out of control

Chinese rocket Long walk 5B is out of control and ready to return to Earth’s atmosphere from this Saturday to a place that – so far – is unknown, as reported by the Pentagon. Meanwhile, specialized organizations have speculated on the place of impact of the ship. In an effort by the Asian country to develop as a space power, China launched the first spacecraft from Wenchang in Hainan province last Thursday at the start of construction of a new station.

On April 29, China launched the first module for its Tiangong space station which was successfully put into orbit. However, the rocket that took him there met the same fate: much of the Long March 5B spacecraft is now in faulty orbit and could – according to expert estimates – make an uncontrolled re-entry to Earth to land. in a place. a stranger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29HGFep3Zek

Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard University Astrophysical Center, told US media CNN what to report where debris could go “is almost impossible at this point due to the speed at which the rocket is moving”, even with slight changes in circumstances which radically alter the trajectory.

“We hope he will return between May 8 and May 10”McDowell said, Retailer: “During this two-day period, [el cohete] has been around the world 30 times. The thing is traveling at about 29,000 kilometers an hour, so if you’re within an hour of guessing when it will drop, you’re 30,000 kilometers away from saying where. ” In this context, The ocean remains the safest bet on where the debris will land, he said, simply because it occupies most of the Earth’s surface..

While most space debris burns in the atmosphere, This device is so big – it weighs over 22 tonnes – that it has caused concern among specialists. If it stays intact – I think the planet is 70% water – there’s a good chance the rocket will fall into the sea, although it’s not sure. It could crash into a populated area or onto a ship.

Against this backdrop, the 30-meter-high core of Long March 5B prepares for one of the largest uncontrolled re-entries in history since it was not designed to be steered, it therefore has no trajectory to fall into the sea at a predetermined point.

This is not the first time that China has lost control of a spacecraft upon its return to Earth. In April 2018, a Tiangong-1 space laboratory disintegrated on re-entry into the atmosphere, two years after ceasing to function. Chinese authorities have denied the lab is out of control.

“Rocket debris is common, likely to land in international waters despite Western publicity of the Chinese space threat.”, titled the Chinese newspaper Global Times. The text points to an “exaggeration” on the part of the United States and Europe in the face of fear of advanced Asian technology.

Despite concerns from the US Department of Defense, industry experts believe that the situation is not worth panickingChinese press reported, quoting Song Zhongping, an aerospace expert and television commentator. Wang Ya’nan, editor-in-chief of the magazine Aerospace knowledgeHe added that the Chinese space authorities had carefully considered the development of the rocket debris fall from the initial rocket design phase and the choice of the launch site, to the attitude and takeoff path of the rocket.

“This is an old trick used by hostile powers whenever they see technological advances in China because they are nervous,” they said in Global Times. China has started an intensive construction phase of the country’s first space station project with the launch of the Tianhe Core Module cockpit. The government has set a tight schedule of 11 launches for the next two years, and should be operational by 2022.

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