The 100-foot-tall, weighing 22-metric-ton Chinese Long March 5Brocket that was launched by Beijing’s new space station last month has reentered Earth’s atmosphere near the Maldives, China’s Manned Space Engineering Office has told.
The Chinese rocket went out of control last week and is now approaching the earth at a speed of about 27,600 km/h in failing orbit with its exact crash site location still unknown. Scientists, satellite trackers, and the Pentagon have been trying to track the dead rocket’s location for days because of the fears that it could crash in a populated region.
According to the US Space Command, the rocket re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Arabian Peninsula and it was still unknown if it would hit the land or water as the US Space Command is expert in locating space junk and man-made satellites in Earth’s orbit.
“Everyone else following the #LongMarch5B re-entry can relax. The rocket is down,” tweeted Space Track, a website that used Space Command data to publish and report the dead rocket’s whereabouts. The last of data on the rocket’s location came as it was wandering over Saudi Arabia, Space Track added.
While most expendable rocket stages usually crash harmlessly into the ocean after pushing a separate rocket booster into orbit, China’s Long March 5B is a bit different. Its entire first stage entered low-Earth orbit on April 29th to deliver its payload, a Tianhe module that will serve as living quarters for China’s new space station in the next few years.
The rocket stage, which was uncontrollable after delivering the space station module, then stayed in orbit for more than a week, gradually falling in altitude before reentering Saturday night. The reentry led to rebuke from NASA administrator Bill Nelson. “It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris,” said Nelson, who took office as NASA’s 14th administrator on May 3rd.
“It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities.”
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin played down the stance that the rocket is a threat to populated areas while it was in orbit, telling reporters on May 7th that it would mostly burn up in the atmosphere and “the probability of this process causing harm on the ground is extremely low,” according to Reuters.
It’s not the first time a Chinese rocket has re-entered Earth’s atmosphere uncontrolled. Tiangong-1, China’s prototype space station, launched in 2011, reentered just seven years later and broke up in the atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean.
The need of the hour is to keep a check on man’s technological advancements and other such endeavours that could wreak havoc in the future. Technological advancements are imperative because of the globalism that is ever-expanding but repeated recklessness on the part of China could lead to drastic consequences. Maybe this is another reminder towards mankind to keep a check on our unquenchable desire to develop.
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