West smears China’s rocket reentry, again
▶ Claims reflect ‘ sour grapes’ mentality, ‘ not to slow China’s space programs’
Right after China’s successful launch of the Wentian lab module for the construction of the China Space Station, the Western media rapidly followed with a new round of smear campaign, hyping the “uncontrolled fall” of the Long March5B Y3 carrier rocket’s first stage.
Mission insiders at the rocket’s developer and space analysts said that they were not surprised by such ignorant manipulation of facts, which projected once again the “sour grapes” mentality of some in the West toward the robust development of China’s aerospace sector.
Space. com claimed that it was the third time that China “has opted not to control the disposal of the first stage of the Long March 5B rocket, once again putting China under scrutiny from space debris trackers after similar uncontrolled falls in 2020 and 2021.”
Commenting on these accusations, a mission insider at the rocket developer China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology ( CALT) said that “There is no specific adjustment made to the rocket used in the Wentian launch in terms of the re- entry issues. And the mission was executed strictly in line with international practice, as the country always did in previous space launches.”
The so- called Western experts should come back to reality, where the truth has proven to be the opposite of their accusations again and again, and they’d better do so, as we still have the Mengtian launch coming next, the insider said.
The US has made quite a fuss over the Long March- 5B Y2 debris’ reentry in May 2021, when the rocket was commissioned to deliver the Tianhe core module.
CALT rocket designer Zhang Borong said in May 2021 that the rocket adopted passivation technology that would not cause any explosion in orbit or create debris in space, and that rocket debris would be burned up by friction with the atmosphere, rather than smashing into Earth as in sci- fi movies.
Previously, smears against Long March- 5B was met with “slaps in the face,” as the facts proved that the reentry of the rocket remnants was harmless.
In fact, the China Manned Space Agency has regularly updated orbit data for debris re- entry of any rockets or spacecraft used for the China Space Station’s construction, such as that for the Long March2F rocket as well as the Tianzhou cargo spacecraft, which fully conforms to international norms in a rather responsible fashion, analysts said.
Song Zhongping, a TV commentator who closely follows China’s space program, said that the US is running out of ways to stop China’s development in the aerospace sector, so smears and defamation became the only things left for it. “But those efforts would be useless to affect the development of the China space program.”