Posted on 05/04/2021 8:23:35 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Part of a huge rocket that launched China’s first module for its Tianhe space station is falling back to Earth and could make an uncontrolled re-entry at an unknown landing point.
The 30-metre high core of the Long March 5B rocket launched the “Heavenly Harmony” unmanned core module into low Earth orbit on 29 April from Wenchang in China’s Hainan province.
The Long March 5B then itself entered a temporary orbit, setting the stage for one of the largest ever uncontrolled re-entries. Some experts fear it could land on an inhabited area.
China launches first module of new space station Read more “It’s potentially not good,” said Jonathan McDowell, Astrophysicist at the Astrophysics Center at Harvard University.
“Last time they launched a Long March 5B rocket they ended up with big long rods of metal flying through the sky and damaging several buildings in the Ivory Coast,” he said.
“Most of it burned up, but there were these enormous pieces of metal that hit the ground. We are very lucky no one was hurt.”
On Tuesday the core was orbiting Earth around every 90 minutes at about 27,600km/h and an altitude of more than 300km. The US military has named it 2021-035B and its path can be seen on websites including orbit.ing-now.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
That would be nice!
I'm not sure of the technical term, but that seems an extremely erratic orbit.
Without even doing any arithmetic, every thinking person should have an instinctive feel for the size of this thing compared to the size of the earth AND taking into account the size of the oceans and other uninhabited areas. Anybody who worries about this is a short-bus-riding idiot with the intellectual capacity of a dead slug.
😆lol
You obviously have no idea of how my luck has been running lately.
It’s tumbling and traveling 28,000 kph, and speeding up at an irregular rate as it falls.
There is no way to predict where it’s going to land at this point. Sometime this weekend that should change.
You sound like the hockey goalie who couldn’t making a save ... everything kept getting by him, and finally he was released by the team. In a depressed state he stepped out onto a highway, directly in front of an oncoming truck ... at which point the truck went right between his legs.
This is prime time for Trade Winds blowing towards the west over the pacific. Lots of sailboat traffic headed to the islands in and around Polynesia.
it’s a bird...
it’s a plane...
i.............................................
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China probably stored all the wuhan bio weapon virus in the rocket banking on it completely burning up on re-entry./s
No further North than New York.
I’m good.
They won't care even if it falls on any other major city in the world.
Lol. It gets worse. I remember when people were afraid that the Schumaker-Levy comet would cause catastrophes on Earth because it was going to hit Jupiter. No shyt. Some people actually believed that.
Suckers will buy anything.
That’s a tall-tale if I ever heard one!
LOL! A new vector for a new virus!
“It’s tumbling and traveling 28,000 kph, and speeding up at an irregular rate as it falls.”
Sorta like a bottle rocket!
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