The remains of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket fell this Saturday at 12:45 pm (Eastern time) in the Indian Ocean, after it took off on July 24 from the island of Hainan with the aim of transporting a module to the Chinese orbital space station, the Tiangong.
Jorge Lomba, head of the Space department of the Spanish Center for Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI) confirmed to the Efe news agency that this Chinese rocket hit the Indian Ocean after an uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere, where the safest thing is that has mostly “disintegrated”.
Lomba warned that this type of rocket re-entry into the atmosphere in the United States and Europe is done in a "controlled" manner, so it is known, in the event that it does not disintegrate, where it falls.
[Three tons of space junk will hit the Moon]
The Long March 5B, with an estimated mass of about 20 tons, was traveling uncontrollably at a speed of 17,398 miles per hour (28,000 km/h).
They will send a special tribute to Diego Armando Maradona into space
July 26, 202201:32
NASA President Bill Nelson said a few months ago that
China "is not meeting the standards of responsibility regarding its space debris,"
including minimization of re-entry risks and transparency of operations.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry defended itself last year by saying that the chances of causing damage are “extremely low”.
[NASA will measure hurricanes and tornadoes with a new environmental satellite]
It is not the first time that a Chinese ship has been watched by the international community.
Just a month ago, a Chinese rocket disintegrated in the sky over the Spanish city of Malaga and fell off the coast of Almeria.
In May, another Chinese rocket returning to Earth partially disintegrated and a large segment also fell harmlessly into the Indian Ocean.
Three years earlier, in April 2018, the Tiangong 1 orbital laboratory, which had been in disuse since 2016 and was wandering uncontrollably through space, was also monitored.
It re-entered Earth's atmosphere over the South Pacific, also without causing damage.
A new SpaceX mission will carry the first black astronaut to man the International Space Station
April 27, 202200:47
The Chinese space program has advanced significantly in the last decade under the regime of Xi Jinping, who wanted to turn China into a space power.
Last year it successfully put the Tiangong space station into orbit, which it is now expanding.
[Russia will leave the international station to build its own base in space]
But those achievements have raised concerns about a possible space race between powers and, eventually, an increased risk of accidents.
Russia announced on Tuesday that it will leave the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024, ending the most ambitious project of global collaboration that for a long time was a key symbol of cooperation after the Cold War.
Space cooperation between China and the United States has been minimal since 2011, when the Wolf Amendment prohibited NASA from using government funds to work with the Chinese government.