Long March 5B used for launch of the main module of the emerging Chinese space station, has reportedly began an uncontrolled descent towards the Earth.
According to various reports from international monitoring centers around the Earth, large remains of the Chinese rocket will survive the entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. It is not known yet where exactly they will hit – they are most likely to fall into ocean waters, but there is a certain risk of bringing the remains of the rocket over populated areas. Current calculations indicate that it could take place on Saturday, May 8.
The body of the Chinese Chang Zheng 5B launcher, with a mass of over 20 tons, went into orbit (170 by 372 kilometers) on Thursday, April 29 this year. – during the successful delivery of the Tianhe substation module. The producer of this carrier system – the state-owned company CALT (China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology) – did not provide the possibility of a controlled deorbitation of its heavy main segment.
Meanwhile, the problematic missile segment from the last launch is under the close observation of numerous global centers for monitoring the near-Earth space. As the messages and calculations of most of them indicate, so far it has been difficult to determine the exact location of the expected fall of the remains to Earth. It is not excluded that they will be inhabited areas (although the probability is determined as small) – in the belt covering (from the northern edge) New York, Madrid, Beijing, to New Zealand Wellington or southern Chile. According to these reports, a fragment of the CZ-5B rocket is likely to enter the atmosphere on Saturday, May 8.
In a commentary on the case, US Department of Defense spokesman Mike Howard said on May 4 that “The US Space Command is aware of the risks and is tracking the descent trajectory of China’s Long March 5B, with its exact point of entry into the atmosphere at the earliest hours before It was also emphasized that the possibility of damage is negligible. It was also declared that the monitoring data should be updated via the Space-Track.org website. At the time of the release, the empty rocket body was to be in orbit with parameters of 162 x 306 km.
In addition, representatives of the Russian state-owned company Roskosmos stated that the uncontrolled return of the Chinese rocket corps was monitored by their automatic space warning system (ASPOS OKP). The calculations of Russian experts indicated then that the re-entry is expected from the evening hours of May 7 to 4:00 pm on Sunday, May 9.