Chinese missile fragment amid controversy

The fragment of China’s Truong Chinh – 5B rocket that fell back to Earth attracted the attention of the world and caused a lot of controversy. Missile fragments crashed into the Indian Ocean at 10:24 am May 9.

The scene of the launch of the Truong Chinh – 5B missile in Hainan on April 29 (Photo: Tan Hoa commune). According to the Hong Kong news site the East On May 9, China’s Office of Construction to put people into space on Sunday morning said that fragments of the end-propeller compartment of the Truong Chinh – 5B (CZ-5B) rocket launched by China from the Van Xuong launch site, Hainan will return to the atmosphere at 9:12 am on the same day (Hanoi time); the area in which it re-entered the atmosphere lies above 28.38 ° east longitude and 34.43 ° north latitude, in the Mediterranean sky. The European Union’s Center for Space Monitoring and Monitoring (EUSST) had previously predicted that the rest of the missile bay would return to the atmosphere at 2:32 a.m. GMT on Sunday (9:32 a.m. Internal on Sunday), with an error of adding or subtracting 139 minutes. According to EUSST, the probability of a missile fragment falling in densely populated areas is very low, but it can still happen uncertain due to the object’s uncontrolled. Thien Ha module of 100m3 capacity was launched by missile into space. American company Aerospace Corporation again stated that missile fragments will fall to the ground at 3:30 am UTC on Sunday (ie 10:30 am Hanoi time) with an error of plus or minus 4 o’clock. Actual drop times may vary. The Truong Chinh – 5B missile was launched into space by China on April 29 to bring the 100m3 Thien Hoa core module into orbit, this part will be the place for 3 astronauts to live and live on the Air Station. the Chinese Heavenly Palace. The launch of the core module is the first of the 11 missions required to complete the installation of a space station. The carrier was successfully put into orbit, but the rocket’s propulsion chamber lost control and fell back to Earth. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, the fragment of the missile will catch fire when it enters the atmosphere, so the potential for harm is extremely low. The missile falls down (all brown parts and 2 support chambers) with the trajectory of the debris moving around Trac Dat. Black dot is the falling point predicted by Aerospace on May 8 (Image: UDN). However, there has been controversy surrounding the rocket’s falling back to Earth. The US Army Space Command said on May 4 that they “are closely monitoring and reporting to the public the location of the missile debris. It is currently impossible to determine where it fell to Earth. Asked during a press conference on May 6 whether the US shot down fragments of Chinese missiles, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “We expect it to fall where it will not cause it. casualties; hope it will fall into the ocean or the like “and said the US” has no plans to shoot it down “. During a press conference at the White House on May 5, when asked: “If the Chinese missile fragments cause harm to the US, will the US claim compensation,” White House spokesman Jen Psaki said: “No. it’s time to discuss this. We are tracking its position through Space Command and hopefully not in the end. ” “The US pays attention to solving the problem of space junk caused by increased activities in space,” she emphasized. The US hopes to cooperate with the international community to promote responsible behavior in the space. Photo of debris caught fire while crossing Italy on the night of May 8 (Photo: virtualtelescope.eu). Meanwhile, the Chinese side accused the Western media of overstating the fact that their missiles “lost control” and could cause great damage. According to the Reuters , sheet Global Times China’s claim that reports of the missile “out of control” and can cause damage are just “Western hype”. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the probability of harm caused by this process is extremely low. Mr. Uong Van Ban, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 7, when answering questions from reporters during a regular press conference, said that international practice allows rockets to enter the atmosphere to throw and destroy. He said: “As far as I know, this missile applies a special engineering design, most of the parts will be worn out and destroyed during the return, potentially harmful to cargo operations,” he said. zero and above ground is extremely low; The relevant authorities will promptly notify the outside situation ”. The Chinese rocket propulsion chamber fell down before (Image: weibo). The Chinese side is very interested in monitoring the reintegration of the missile debris atmosphere, but declined to answer questions about where it was expected to fall, said Uong Van Ban; instead, he advised reporters to “consult the relevant agencies”. However, the National Aerospace Bureau of China did not respond to relevant questions from reporters Bloomberg . Since the US Skylab space station was out of orbit and crashed into Western Australia in 1979, most space programs have tried to avoid sending large missiles into orbit, because in this case Their return to Earth will be difficult to predict. According to the news of The Guardi This uncontrolled China Changzheng-2B missile compartment is 30 meters long, 5 meters wide and weighs 21 tons, it could become one of the largest space debris falling to the ground. Photo of Truong Chinh – 5B rocket propulsion compartment falling on May 6 (Photo: virtualtelescope.eu) This missile compartment is currently freely acrobatic around Earth, is about to enter the lower atmosphere, and is expected to fall uncontrollably down to Earth. Its orbital tilt is 41.5 degrees, meaning that areas of the Earth in the range from the north like Chicago, New York, Rome, Beijing, Hanoi and south to New Zealand, Chile are all on the Road moves and may fall. Although scientists expect that most of the debris will be burned and destroyed as it enters the atmosphere, there are still some that will fall to different places on earth, these parts include a metal and glass numbers have not been burned. Some scientists believe that it is irresponsible for China to let the missile debris return to Earth uncontrollably. “They (China) are responsible,” said Paulo Lozano, director of the Space Thrust Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They either did not provide enough information or did enough work during the design process to prevent the space object from returning uncontrollably back to Earth. I think that’s very important …. Hope they won’t fall on land, especially in public places, the consequences will be very bad. ” Lozano said that almost all missile launches in the US require a second stage. During this phase, the engine will restart to bring the missile back to earth in an area that does not have any. designated person. However, the Truong Chinh – 5B missile does not have this design. According to Jonathan Black, director of the Maritime and Aviation Systems Laboratory at Virginia Tech, the technology has been in use for the past ten years. Although the Truong Chinh – 2B missile was just launched in late April, its technology is still decades ago. Scientists speculate that the high cost may be the reason China is not adopting new technologies. The propellant compartment of the Chinese missile fell to Guangxi province before (Image: weibo). Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell criticizes China for being negligent in this regard, not letting objects heavier than 10 tons fall to Earth from space. He said potentially dangerous debris may not be completely burned when returned to the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, but the probability of falling into the sea is higher because 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by Ocean. However, Mr. McDowell told Reuters that it was still possible that missile debris could fall on the ground; can even fall in densely populated areas, like fragments of another Truong Chinh-5B rocket that crashed on Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in May 2020, destroying many buildings, But luck did not cause any casualties. Follow the latest information from the page the East at 11:33 a.m.: The China Space Construction Office announced: fragments of the last compartment of the missile carrying Truong Chinh -5B returned to the atmosphere at 10:24 am. The fall zone was located at 72.47 ° east longitude and 2.65 ° north latitude over the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, most of the equipment was burned down during the reintegration of the atmosphere.