Chinese rocket crash4/8/2023 ![]() ![]() And when the booster comes down, statistical modelers estimate between 10 and 40 percent of its weight in material will survive to reach Earth's surface. About 88 percent of the world's population lives within the swath of the rocket's potential strike zone, according to Aerospace. The odds of space stuff hitting the ocean are good, given two-thirds of the planet is covered in water.īut the uncertainty of where this large hunk of metal will land presents a risk to humans that is well above commonly accepted levels among spacefaring nations. Most of the junk that plunges back to Earth burns up or splashes down. (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab) What are the odds of getting hurt? Some believe that is the reason China has opted to let the rocket fall where it may. Any extra weight built into the rocket, such as extra fuel, heat shields, or technology to perform a controlled landing, would take away from what could be hauled into orbit. The point of this mission and the previous three was to send extremely heavy modules into space to build a space station. The lack of information from China to the rest of the world leaves room for speculation. (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab) Why is China allowing this to happen… again? ![]() ET Friday.Ī rocket will crash into the moon. It wasn't supposed to happen."Īs of mid-Thursday, the modelers estimated the booster would reemerge between 4 a.m. "All the large re-entries that have been uncontrolled in the last few years, except for these, were accidents. We haven't done that for 50 years," Ted Meulhaupt, an Aerospace space debris expert, told reporters on Wednesday. "We, the world, don't deliberately launch things this big, intending them to fall wherever. 31 to construct the Tiangong space station, (Opens in a new tab) which means "heavenly palace." The rocket carried the last piece to build the orbiting laboratory. The booster was used during China's final launch on Oct. This will be the fourth time China has allowed its biggest rocket, Long March 5B (Opens in a new tab), to re-enter Earth's atmosphere without having any control over where it falls. But, as of the middle of the week, they knew some places where it wouldn't: Most of Europe, as well as everywhere above Chicago's latitude, could be ruled out, according to Aerospace Corporation (Opens in a new tab), a federally funded nonprofit organization that has been tracking this rogue core stage and other previous ones. (opens in a new tab) (Opens in a new tab)Īnalysts had little data to make an accurate prediction on where in the world the 50,000-pound piece of junk would crash. The exact locations of impact have not yet been reported by the People's Republic of China. The first fell over the south-central Pacific, the second over the Northeast Pacific. Space Command announced that two pieces of the Long March rocket booster likely reentered Earth over the Pacific Ocean just after 4 a.m. Grab your helmets: A Chinese rocket booster in space the length of two tractor-trailers will plummet back to Earth sometime soon. ![]()
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