Disintegrated space rocket highly unlikely to cause any damage on earth: China
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Last Updated: May 07, 2021, 09:31 PM IST
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The Pentagon said on Tuesday that it was tracking a large Chinese rocket that is out of control and set to re-enter earth s atmosphere this weekend.
AFP
The rocket was used by China to launch a part of its space station. While most space debris objects may burn up in the atmosphere, the rocket s size - 22 tonnes - has prompted concern that large parts could re-enter and cause damage if they hit inhabited areas.
Breaking its silence on its tumbling space rocket, whose debris is expected to fall on the Earth this weekend, China said most of it would be burnt during the re-entry and it is highly unlikely to cause any damage on the ground.
For more than a century, the King George County base has been the place where the Navy developed and tested the most powerful weapons used by warships on the high seas.
Naval Support Facility Dahlgren also has recently become home to a small group that keeps its eye on military satellitesâand other objectsâin the sky. Thatâs the 18th Space Control Squadron, Detachment One, which is part of the U.S. Space Force, the sixth branch of the Armed Forces that focuses entirely on the great beyond.
Capt. Todd Copeland, commanding officer at Naval Support Activity South Potomac, recently shared some details about it and other new developments at the base with the King George Board of Supervisors.
Chinese Rocket Debris Is Expected To Crash Into Earth Soon
BEIJING, China The large Chinese rocket that is out of control and set to reenter Earth’s atmosphere this weekend has brought about an alarming but not unprecedented situation.
Space debris has crashed into Earth on a number of occasions, including last year.
The good news is that debris plunging toward Earth while unnerving generally poses very little threat to personal safety. As Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Astrophysics Center at Harvard University, told CNN: “This is not the end of days.”
Still, the episode has fueled fresh questions about space debris, uncontrolled reentry and what precautions might need to be taken, if any.
The Chinese rocket speeding back to earth is so unpredictable it could land almost anywhere May 07, 2021, 03:56 PM
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Experts say anywhere in the shaded area could be the re-entry point for a piece of China s Long March 5B rocket. Turkmenistan - one possible landing area - is marked with an arrow.
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The US military and others are tracking a Chinese rocket piece due to re-enter the atmosphere soon.
Experts have highlighted a huge swathe of the planet where the rocket could come down.
Some say it will re-enter over Turkmenistan Sunday, but estimates differ by thousands of miles.