the staff of the Ridgewood blog
China recently launched a component of its new space station, sending a piece of rocket debris hurtling back to Earth in a completely uncontrolled landing.
After the core separated from the rest of the rocket, it should have followed a predetermined flight path into the ocean. But now, it’s orbiting Earth unpredictably at 17,324 miles per hour—and losing altitude. s.
China’s Long March 5B rocket is “unpredictably” re-entry to Earth after launching a part of the new T-shaped Chinese space station on Thursday local time in Wenchang, according to SpaceNews. The 22.5-metric-ton Tianhe space station module is in its correct orbit after separating as planned from the core stage of the rocket, which is now expected to re-enter in a few days or about a week.
“It will be one of the largest instances of uncontrolled reentry of a spacecraft and could potentially land on an inhabited area,” SpaceNews said. That said, the more likely possibility is the core stage will fall in an uninhabited place like Earth’s oceans, which cover 70% of the planet. The odds of a particular individual being hit by space debris are exceedingly low, once estimated at 1 in several trillion.
Corona rocket?
If you see a piece on the ground pick it up.
On the back it will say “Made in China”
Also small print says
Purchased with American dollars what fools they are..
It’s cheaper to do things with lax quality controls. Maybe people will like a low cost way to get things to space. Hey it works for gym shoes and appliances.