Huge trash from Chinese rockets is falling on Earth

By the end of this week, a piece of debris from a Chinese rocket, which could weigh tens of tons, will fall on Earth. Currently it is in the phase of an uncontrolled return to earth.

On April 29, at the Van Xuong spacecraft launch center in Hainan province, China successfully launched the first module of the Tianhe space station with the Truong Chinh 5B rocket, marking an important step in the build the country’s own space station. However, instead of falling to a predetermined place in the sea like the previous rockets, the central stage of the Truong Chinh 5B boosters started spinning around the Earth in a low orbit in a state of out-of-control. With a weight of about 21 tons, 30m long and 5m wide, the remnants of the Truong Chinh 5B rocket are flying in orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes / rev, at a speed of 27,600 km / h at an altitude of over 300 kilometer. Since the end of last week until now, this remaining part has decreased altitude by nearly 80km. According to the observations of underground amateur astronomers, this missile is in a very unstable state. Some calculations show that the central floor of the Truong Chinh 5B missile will plunge into the atmosphere on May 8. When it crosses the Earth’s atmosphere, it could be burned, but it is likely that large pieces of the missile will remain and will fall scattered over an area of ​​160km wide. Worth mentioning, this is not the first time that China’s Truong Chinh 5B missile has fallen into a state of out-of-control during the biosphere. In May 2020, a similar incident happened. Beijing is expected to have at least 10 more similar launches, bringing all additional equipment into orbit, before completing the station by 2022. China’s Truong Chinh 5B missile was launched into orbit on April 29 at the Wenchang launch pad, southern China. . Prior to the US Space Command’s forecast that the 2021-035B Truong Chinh 5B (Long March 5B or Chang Zheng 5B) missile core, called 2021-035B, was capable of falling uncontrollably on Earth on the day. May 8-9, many people questioned: Will Russia or the US plan to use the missile to shoot the core of the Truong Chinh 5B missile, to save the planet’s citizens? On May 6, the US said it was tracking the object’s path, but had no plans to shoot it down. Cosmic garbage Australia currently holds the record as the country that contains the largest space waste in the world. In 1979, the 77-ton American SkyLab space station disintegrated in Western Australia, leaving the area around the coastal town of Esperance splashed by debris. Although no deaths or serious injuries have been reported from being hit by these cosmic debris, it is quite dangerous. Just a year before the fall of SkyLab, a Soviet remote sensing satellite, Cosmos 954, crashed into a barren area of ​​Canada’s Northwest Territory, spreading radioactive debris over several hundred square kilometers. As the Cold War was at its height, the nuclear sensitivity of the Cosmos 954 led to unfortunate delays in locating and cleaning the wreck. Who has to pay for cleaning? International law sets out a compensation regime that applies in many cases of damage on Earth, as well as when satellites collide in space. The 1972 conventions, a United Nations treaty, impose liability for the damage caused by space debris, which includes a regime of absolute liability as they fall to Earth like fragments. crumbs. In the case of Long March 5B, this would impose potential liability on China. The new treaty has only been invoked once before (for the Cosmos 954 incident) and therefore may not be considered a incentive. Of course, this legal framework only applies after the damage has occurred. In 1978, a Soviet nuclear-powered satellite crashed in northern Canada, resulting in a $ 3,000,000 fine for the tundra radioactive cleanup for Canada.