Chinese rocket segment disintegrates over ocean
A LARGE segment of a Chinese rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated over the Indian Ocean yesterday, the Chinese space agency said, following fevered speculation over where the 18-ton object would come down.
Officials in Beijing had said there was little risk from the free-falling segment of the Long March-5B rocket, which had launched the first module of China’s new space station into Earth’s orbit on April 29.
But the US space agency Nasa and some experts said China had behaved irresponsibly as an uncontrolled re-entry of such a large object risked damage and casualties.
The China Manned Space Engineering Office said that most of the segment disintegrated and was destroyed during descent.
The US military’s Space Command tweeted: “Operators confirm that the rocket actually went into the Indian Ocean north of the Maldives.”
The segment’s descent matched expert predictions that any debris would have splashed down into the ocean, given that 70% of the planet is covered by water.
Because it was an uncontrolled descent, there was speculation about where the debris would land.
American and European space authorities were among those tracking the rocket and trying to predict its re-entry. Objects generate immense amounts of heat and friction when they enter the atmosphere, which can cause them to burn up and disintegrate. But larger ones such as the Long March-5B may not be destroyed entirely. Their wreckage can land on the surface of the planet and may cause damage and casualties, although that risk is low. Last year, debris from another Chinese Long March rocket fell on villages in the Ivory Coast, causing structural damage but no injuries or deaths.
That, and the one that came down yesterday, are tied for the fourth-biggest objects in history to undergo an uncontrolled re-entry, according to data from Harvard-based astronomer Jonathan McDowell.The uncertainty and risks of such a re-entry sparked accusations that Beijing had behaved irresponsibly.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin suggested last week that China had been negligent, and Nasa administrator Bill Nelson echoed that after the re-entry yesterday.
“Spacefaring nations must minimise the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximise transparency regarding those operations,” Nelson said. |