The Chinese Long March 5B rocket advances uncontrollably at a speed of 17, 149 miles per hour (22, 600 kilometers per hour).
And it is estimated that it will enter the Earth’s atmosphere this weekend, so there is concern about where its remains will crash.
It will be one of the largest uncontrolled re-entries in the history of space missions.
And it is not ruled out that the crash site is in an inhabited area.
The concern
The US Pentagon is one of the state entities that tracks the Chinese rocket.
The Department Defense Department believes the impact may occur “ around May 8 “.
Mike Howard, office spokesman governmental, s He pointed out this Thursday that the Space Command monitors the trajectory of the rocket.
However, he acknowledged that the exact point of entry into the atmosphere is not even known and that its advance has no control.
For his part, Jonathan McDowell, an expert at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University, indicated that the situation does not mean “the end of days” either.
“ I don’t think people should take precautions. The risk of injury or hitting someone is quite small. It is not negligible, it could happen, but the risk of it impacting you is incredibly small “, the researcher told CNN on Wednesday.
McDowell explained that pinpointing where the remains of the cohere that survive entry into the atmosphere can go is almost impossible due to the speed at which it travels.
“If you want to bet on where something will land on Earth, bet on the Pacific, because the Pacific is the largest part of the Earth. It’s that simple ”, he added.
It is estimated that the remains will fall at some point in the parallels 41.
Details
The Chinese used the rocket to put part of their space station into orbit last week.
While most of the debris space burns in the atmosphere, the size of the rocket of 22 tons causes concern.
The station China spacecraft will be assembled from various modules to be shipped at different times and is planned to be fully operational by the end of 2022.
China calls for calm
China analysts minimized concerns about the remains of the space rocket.
“It is very likely that the debris from the rocket that launched the first sec tion of the Chinese space station , fall into international waters and people should not worry, “said space analysts from the Asian giant in a statement on Wednesday.
Chinese experts note that it is common for debris from rocket launches to fall back to Earth and that the Pentagon’s claim that aircraft debris is returning “ out of control ”And“ they can cause damage if they hit inhabited areas ”are nothing more than an exaggeration.
Wang Ya’nan, editor-in-chief of the Chinese magazine Aerospace Knowledge, noted that the authorities China’s spacecraft carefully considered the development of falling rocket debris from the initial design phase and the choice of launch site. Also the characteristics of the take-off and its trajectory.
“Most of the debris will burn during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, leaving only a very small portion that can fall to the ground, that it will potentially land in areas remote from human activities or in the ocean ”, he stated.
Like other experts in his country, Wang maintains that, like the China’s aerospace device is mainly made of lightweight materials, most of it will burn easily with the dense air in the atmosphere after its re-entry at high speed.
To have its space station ready on schedule, China established a tight schedule of 11 releases for the next two years.
The T-shaped station is intended to be operational during 10 years and its life can be extended to 15 years with repair and proper maintenance, according to the China Academy of Space Technology.
It is expected to be the only operational station in orbit that will be open to foreign partners after the withdrawal of the International Space Station.
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