Chinese missiles they leave. Literally. Over the past year, there have been several cases where a fragment space debris emanating from these vehicles de-orbited and fell to Earth. Even recently we have been able to see from Spain a number of fireballs generated by this debris. This is very little, but the Earth is again preparing to receive a new batch of garbage.
This time it’s rocket fragments Long March 5B which was used on July 24 to deliver new parts to Tiangong space station. According to observations and calculations Jonathan McDowellastrophysicist Harvard Smithsonian Center, the first stage of the Chinese rocket after the completion of work remained in orbit freely. Therefore, it is likely to de-orbit and fall uncontrollably to Earth.
It’s business as usual This happens not only with Chinese missiles. As a result, usually pieces of space debris they burn on contact with the atmosphere, breaking up into fragments so small that they very rarely cause damage. However, this case could be something more disturbing, since the used rocket has a length of 53.6 meters and weighs 837,500 kg.. No matter how badly it breaks down, fragments can still be large and dangerous.
The problem of getting rid of space debris
Once a rocket has finished its job in space, from Earth you have two options: bring it home in a controlled manner, or leave it free until it is completed. exorbitant and fall at any moment.
The first option is, of course, the safest. However, the second is infinite cheaper. For this reason, both China and other countries have often allowed their space debris to roam freely.
After all, as explained in a recently published study on this topic, it is much more profitable to pay compensation in the unlikely event that a fragment falls on a person. The problem is that, according to the same study, this will be less and less unlikely. In fact, in less than ten years, the likelihood that one of these debris will fall on a person it will be 10%. It’s alarmingly high.
For this reason, some private companies, such as SpaceX, are already developing recyclable rockets that return to Earth in a controlled manner and can even be reused later. In addition, these rockets are available for major agencies such as NASA.
Elon Musk company He has reasons to behave this way. On the one hand, they are trying to compensate (with difficulty) for all the space debris they release with their constellations of satellites. But, on the other hand, they are trying to prevent a repeat of situations like the one that happened in 2021, when a fragment of one of their missiles fell on a Washington farm.
In the case of Chinese rockets, they still continue to operate in the traditional way: they uncontrollably return their space debris to earth. The problem is that they currently have a very intensive activity in building their Tiangong space station. This means launching more rockets, and with them, much more debris back to Earth.
Bad experience with Chinese missiles
In 2020, the remnants of the Chinese Long March rocket fell to the ground. village in Ivory Coast, damaging some buildings. Thankfully, there were no injuries, but it was a warning of what could happen when space junk got out of control.
Later, in 2021, new debris from one of his rockets fell into the ocean near Maldives. And recently we saw them traverse the Spanish sky until they got lost over Mediterranean.
Complaints from other space agencies about this incessant rain of Chinese rocket debris are beginning to come in very profusely. So much so that a year ago, China responded to criticism by assuring that they were not the only ones implementing uncontrolled re-entry and that all these complaints are the result of envy of her rapid progress in space technology.
Whatever the reason, it is clear that with the increase in the world’s population and the amount of space debris, the uncontrolled return of debris to Earth andgetting more and more dangerous. It doesn’t matter if the fragments come from China or from NASA itself. This is a dangerous situation and solutions must be sought before anything more than just fireballs tearing through the sky is regretted.
Source: Hiper Textual
