the US military plan in the event of a possible impact

the United States Armed Forces they closely follow the trail of the Chinese rocket Long March 5B. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin He specified this Friday the plan that the Joe Biden administration collaborates in the face of the uncertainty generated by its uncontrolled descent to Earth.

The head of the army with the greatest technological and military power on the planet said that won’t knock down the massive rocket debris that China put into orbit last week, while being closely followed by the 18th Space Control Squadron of US Space Command, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.,

Lloyd Austin Austin clarified that they don’t have a plan to demolish it, despite concerns about the probable fall to Earth of some of its debris.

“We have the capacity to do a lot of things, but we don’t have a plan to demolish it,” said the secretary, who has hope that the ship falls into the ocean, without harming anyone or anything on Earth.

There is a precedent for the United States shooting down space debris that falls to Earth. The Navy launched a missile in 2008 to destroy a faulty spy satellite and he was out of orbit.

This satellite ceased to function at the start of its mission, so it still had plenty of fuel on board and could have spilled its toxic cargo following a probable impact.

Across the Atlantic, the European Union’s Space Surveillance and Tracking Service (EUSST), which monitors the Chinese rocket, also sees debris is unlikely to fall in populated areas Of the earth.

The rocket (a Long March 5B) was used last week by China to launch one of the modules of its future space station into space, and it is expected to have an impact throughout weekends on the earth’s atmosphere,

Debris can fall anywhere in the world, in a band that exceeds 40 degrees north and south of the Earth’s equator. Considering the fact that about 70% of this strip of Earth is covered with water, “the most likely scenario is that the fall takes place in the sea.”

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University, explained of the SRC site that it is almost impossible at present to predict where and when the debris will fall, the astrophysicist dared to point out a in law.

“If you want to bet on where something will land on Earth, bet on the Pacific. Because the Pacific is most of the Earth. It’s that simple, ”he admitted.

The predictions are still very uncertain as the object is out of control, and the most rough estimates of where this debris would fall will only be possible to make a few a few hours before the start of the school year real object in the earth’s atmosphere.

A risk for the environment

Unlike the older Long March series rockets, the central stage of the Long March 5B uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel.

Previous generation Long March 2, 3 and 4 series rockets use a Toxic hypergolic propellant combination of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, making the debris surviving re-entry potentially dangerous to anyone approaching the wreckage.

The remains of Chinese rocket launches from inland space ports have rarely fallen into populated areas. In addition, it is understood that China has taken precautions to do not cause damage by falling rocket debris.

However, some aerospace organizations have argued that beyond human risk, humanity should also keep environmental damage in mind, because back to school can be very polluting.

SL