Posted on 05/02/2021 4:18:01 PM PDT by bitt
Following (Thursday's) yesterday’s launch, the core stage of China’s Long March 5B rocket inadvertently went into low Earth orbit. The booster—now spinning out of control—is poised to perform an uncontrolled reentry from orbit, potentially threatening inhabited areas.
As SpaceNews reports, the core stage will likely fall from low Earth orbit at some point in the next few days, making it one of the biggest human-made objects to perform an uncontrolled reentry. The gigantic core stage, measuring 98 feet (30 meters) long and 16 feet (5 meters) wide, might burn up during atmospheric reentry, but debris could potentially reach the surface. Odds are that bits and pieces from the booster will fall into the ocean or onto uninhabited areas, but there’s a nonzero chance for it to threaten human lives and property.
Aside from this unexpected occurrence, yesterday’s launch of the Long March 5B rocket from Wenchang Launch Center was a success. It’s the first of 11 planned launches, as China begins construction of its Tianhe, or “Heavenly Harmony,” space station. The 176-foot-tall (53.7-meter) Long March 5B heavy-lift launch vehicle, with its quartet of side boosters, was specifically designed for this project. This is the latest variant of the Long March 5 rocket; an earlier version failed during launch on July 2, 2017. Completion of the new space station is expected in late 2022, after which time the orbital outpost will accommodate a crew of three.
The main stage released the 25-ton Tianhe module shortly after the eight-minute mark of the mission, but instead of falling back to Earth as planned (and onto a pre-designated area), the expendable core stage stayed in space, having achieved escape velocity. Ideally, the core stage should’ve performed a controlled deorbit shortly after its separation from Tianhe, but it’s not yet clear why this didn’t happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...
heads up!
Your chance of being negatively affected is far less than Biden’s (or whom ever is controlling him) effect on the economy.
“...Odds are that bits and pieces from the booster will fall
into the ocean or onto uninhabited areas,
but there’s a nonzero chance for it to threaten human lives and property...”
I saw Rooster.
100 foot tall Rooster!
Gotta cut back on the coffee. Lol.
Man, if that should hit Washington DC at exactly the right time...oh well, a feller can dream, can’t he?
For those who want to track it, track satellite identified as 2021-035B. It’s over Africa now.
Maybe it will hit something that needs to be destroyed, like the Kaaba or one of the ChiCom artificial islands?
Likely? It’s certain.
Oh, and in other news, apparently other countries, other than China that is, have been not letting objects of larger than 10 tons make deliberate uncontrolled re-entries since 1990. This one’s 21 tons - and it’s 2021.
Sounds like it’s not a reusable booster. ;^)
https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3955699/posts?page=52#52
I saw Rooster too..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6QgND6sXbc
Alice in Chains Rooster for your listening pleasure.
got a link to watch it????
It is funny that the ChiComs are so adept at stealing Western technology, yet SOOOO terrible at copying it!
COVID-21 it’s called.
Trump should have done something about that. It’s his fault. He and his followers will deny it, but they are all responsible for this. The glorious leaders of communism had NOTHING to do with this impending threat. If it hits a capitalistic country, they attracted it. If it hits a totalitarian state, reparations must be paid. The workers of the world should unite to fight all capitalistic pigs who allowed technology to be stolen for this monstrosity to be built. I could go on, but that should be a clear enough explanation as to who is responsible. If you don’t get it, off to the re-education camp with you!
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