The 21-ton Chinese missile fell to Earth ‘uncontrolled’, where it is not yet known

China’s 21-ton missile is falling on Earth and no one knows where it could ‘land’. Experts are concerned it could spill debris scattered across New York, Madrid and Beijing.

China’s Long March (Truong Chinh) 5B missile was launched last Thursday A Chinese uncontrolled 21-ton missile is falling on Earth and could land in densely populated areas, experts warn. China’s Long March (Truong Chinh) 5B rocket launched last Thursday is expected to fall back to Earth in the next few days. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer who tracks objects orbiting the Earth, said SpaceNews that its path was “slightly further north than New York, Madrid and Beijing, and as far south as Chile and Wellington, New Zealand”. The missile can fall anywhere within this range, including oceans and densely populated or uninhabited areas, but most missiles will burn in the atmosphere. Satellite tracking devices have detected missiles longer than 30m cruise at speeds of more than 6.4km / s. China launched the Long March 5B at 11:23 a.m. local time last Thursday to make the first phase of their upcoming space station. The module that the missile carries, dubbed ‘Thien Hoa’, will be inhabited by the three crew members after the space station’s giant structure is complete. State media reported that China aims to complete the China Space Station, known as Tiangong (Tiangong) by the end of 2022, after several other modules have been launched. When completed, the Tiangong Space Station will orbit the Earth at an altitude of 340-450km. China aims to become a space power by 2030 to keep up with rivals, including the US, Russia and the European Space Agency, and create the most advanced space station around Earth. The ISS International Space Station, currently in orbit, takes 10 years and more than 30 missions to assemble since the launch of the first module in 1998. The ISS was supported by five space agencies – NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe) and CSA (Canada) – but China was initially banned from the United States. However, the unsettled return of the missile could put an end to the Chinese celebration if the vehicle lands in an inhabited area. Cosmic debris watchers have observed it moving slowly and unpredictably to Earth over the past few days and it will be one of the largest uncontrolled debris on record. The Long March 5B is about 33m long, 5.3m wide and although more than 10 tons of space debris has been left in orbit for an uncontrolled return to ground flight, Mr McDowell said “by current standards. , it’s unacceptable to let it come back uncontrollably. ” Holger Krag, head of the European Space Agency’s Office of Space Safety Programs, told SpaceNews that: ‘China is aware of the potential danger of out-of-control’. “It is always difficult to judge the volume and amount of debris left over without knowing the design of the object, but the logical rule is about 20-40% China launched the Long March 5B in May 2020 to test the vehicle in preparation to send people to the moon, but the mission also ended with an uncontrolled return trip. The Long March 5B rocket entered space on 5 May 2020 and crashed to Earth a few days later, just off the coast of West Africa. This has been confirmed by Space Control Squadron 18, a unit of the US Air Force that tracks space debris in Earth orbit. The force says what’s remarkable not only about the size of the missile but also the extent of its uncontrolled dive zone. Before crashing into waters off the west coast of Mauritania, the rocket core flew over Los Angeles and New York.