The Chinese rocket will drop in a few hours, but where? – Economic, financial and commercial news

Out of control Chinese rocket will fall before midnight today or early Sunday hours after passing through the earth’s atmosphere with minimal risk, but not zero, to cause damage to the Earth, said Marcelo Colazo, a researcher at the National Commission for Space Activities (Conae), who argued that, according to the estimated timeframes, he would not do so over Argentina.

“After 18 this Saturday, there are no more orbits over Argentina”, he told Tlam Colazo, although he made it clear that we are still talking about probabilities.

The former head of the Cordoba land station of Conae explained that “The trajectory of the rocket has been followed since its launch and over time there was more prediction of when the fall would occur.”

“This window was getting smaller and smaller and now it is only 6 a.m., plus-minus midnight this Saturday,” he said and added that “if this window is respected, we have a very low and almost improbable probability that it will reach our territory. “

Facundo Rodríguez, specialist in public science communication and doctor of astronomy from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Astronomy (IATE), explained that “The Chinese Long March 5B rocket, launched on Thursday April 29 in its Y2 mission, is one of the largest in China and among the most important in the world.”

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“It was designed to carry heavy loads in Earth orbit, in particular to carry the first module of the new Chinese space station, currently under construction,” assured Rodríguez, who also works at the Cordoba Astronomical Observatory.

In dialogue with Tlam, the astronomer indicated that part of the Long March 5B has detached from the rocket and has no mechanism to guide its fall. “

However, both stressed that “although he is not guided, he is followed and his position has never been lost, so it is known in which direction he is falling.”

“This part which should enter the Earth’s atmosphere in the next few hours weighs 23 tons, but will probably be completely destroyed., catching fire on contact with the atmosphere without causing great damage, ”Rodríguez said.

In this sense, I observed that “It can happen that some denser fragments remain without being destroyed and that they impact the surface. As their orbit is not controlled, the fate of these remains is unpredictable.”

“Incineration occurs because the object falls at high speed and, when rubbing against the atmosphere, its temperature increases until it reaches thousands of degrees Celsius and that is why in general they end up being consumed until that there are hardly any traces of these objects. or only small portions “, aadi.

Regarding cases similar to the free-falling and uncontrolled Chinese rocket, the astronomer reminded Tlam of the uncontrolled re-entry of the Soviet space station Salyut 7 that occurred in 1991.

“He had about 30 tons and his remains fell in some uninhabited areas of the Argentine provinces such as Santa Fe and Entre Ros,” he said.

Another more distant precedent is that of the US Space Station Skylab in 1979, which weighed 74 tons, and re-entries into the Australian skies and some unincinerated debris struck its surface without causing significant damage.

Colazo said that while this case is not insignificant, the increase in “space debris” that endangers satellite missions is “of great concern” and said that “it is estimated that there are millions of ‘objects in orbit around the Earth’.