BEIJING: Remnants of China’s biggest 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.
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.
6,900 satellites now in orbit around Earth, with 4000 still functioning.
Space debris Estimated number of break-ups, explosions, collisions, or anomalous events resulting in fragmentation -More than 560
Total mass of all space objects in Earth orbitMore than 9300 tonnes.
NASA slams rocket risk,
The Age, print version 10 May 2021, Remnants of China’s biggest rocket have landed in the Indian Ocean,with the bulk of its components destroyed on re-entry into the atmosphere according to Chinese state media., fencing days of speculation over where the debris would hit….
The coordinates given by the media yesterday, citing the China Manned Space Engineering Office, put the point of impact west of the Maldives archipelago.The Long March launched last week 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.
Out-of-control Chinese rocket finally lands in Indian Ocean near the Maldives, https://www.9news.com.au/world/chinese-rocket-expected-to-crash-into-earth-this-weekend/4b39859c-cfc4-4f3c-b9e2-f294e1bb65f4
According to China Manned Space Engineering Office, the rocket made impact about 12.24pm AEST, roughly two hours earlier than predicted.Most of the remnants of the vessel burned up during re-entry to earth’s atmosphere, officials said, putting to bed week-long fears over the potential damage the rocket could have caused if it struck land.What was left of the spacecraft landed at open sea, at 72.47 degrees east longitude and 2.65 degrees north latitude.The Long March 5B rocket, which was around 30 metres tall and weighed 20 tonnes, entered earth’s low orbit earlier this morning.
autoevolution 10 May 2021, 6:37 UTC ·
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Last Friday, estimates were not looking good. Even though U.S. and international space trackers agreed that the risks of space debris landing in populated areas was small, the fact that no one could accurately predict where it would fall made for an anxiety-inducing scenario. At best, debris would fall into the ocean or in unpopulated regions of the globe. At worst… well, you’ve seen it in movies, you know what the worst can be.
On Sunday, at 10:24 Beijing time (02:24 GMT), the core of the Long March 5B rocket reentered atmosphere piece by piece. Unconfirmed videos of burning pieces, one as large as a Mack truck, falling into the Indian Ocean, near the Maldives, were posted online. Chinese authorities and the China Manned Space Engineering Office aren’t saying whether any of these pieces hit ground, or if they did, what kind of damage they caused.
When the Long March rocket began to fall toward Earth, its risk zone was massive.
The European Space Agency had predicted a risk zone including almost all of the Americas south of New York, all of Africa and Australia, parts of Asia south of Japan, and Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece, according to CNN.
Joseph Gamp
NASA CRITICIZES CHINA OVER ROCKET LANDING
NASA says China didn’t “meet responsible standards” when it came to debris from the Long March 5B rocket.
“Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations,” said NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson in a statement.