Hindustan Times (Ranchi)

China draws flak after rocket debris lands in Indian Ocean

- letters@hindustant­imes.com

Remnants of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, with most of its components destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, ending days of speculatio­n over where the debris would hit but drawing U.S. criticism over lack of transparen­cy.

The coordinate­s given by Chinese state media, citing the China Manned Space Engineerin­g Office, put the point of impact in the ocean, west of the Maldives archipelag­o.

Debris from the Long March 5B has had some people looking warily skyward since it blasted off from China’s Hainan island on April 29, but the China Manned Space Engineerin­g Office said most of the debris was burnt up in the atmosphere.

State media reported parts of the rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10:24 a.m.

Beijing time (0224 GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinate­s of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north.

The U.S. Space command confirmed the re-entry of the rocket over the Arabian Peninsula, but said it was unknown if the debris impacted land or water.

“The exact location of the impact and the span of debris, both of which are unknown at this time, will not be released by U.S. Space Command,” it said in a statement on its website.

The Long March was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May 2020. Last year, pieces from the first Long March 5B fell on Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. No injuries were reported.

“Spacefarin­g nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparen­cy regarding those operations,” NASA Administra­tor Bill Nelson, a former senator and astronaut who was picked for the role in March, said in a statement after the re-entry.

“It is clear that China is failing to meet responsibl­e standards regarding their space debris.”

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