A Chinese missile of the type launched on Sunday afternoon Long March 5B toward the space station tian gong (Heaven Palace). The 23-ton laboratory module was on board wentian, which was able to dock with the station in orbit after 13 hours flight time. A success for Chinese space travel, which, however, triggers criticism.
The launch vehicle is designed in such a way that parts of it fall back to earth in an uncontrolled manner, instead of either being guided down or burning up in the atmosphere during the crash. There had already been reports of falling metal parts after an earlier launch of this type of rocket. Some fell over populated areas in Ivory Coast, damaging homes.
The rocket, which brought the first part of the space station into orbit at the end of April 2021, landed over the Indian Ocean near the Maldives after ten days. Nonetheless At the time, the head of the US space agency Nasa, Bill Nelson, condemned the procedure: “It is clear that China does not deal responsibly with its space debris.”
When and where the parts will fall cannot be predicted
It is not yet clear when and where the burned-out rocket stage of the latest mission, which still weighs around 21 tons, will fall. It is likely that the debris will impact between latitude 41 degrees north and 41 degrees south. Germany would be out of the danger zone, but large parts of Africa, South and North America and Asia are in this area. Most likely, parts that do not burn up in the crash will fall onto unpopulated areas or into the sea, but there is a risk that settlements could be hit again.
Initially, the rocket stage will likely orbit the Earth for a few days, each lasting about 90 minutes. Then it is likely to start sinking and eventually crash. Even if one cannot simply deduce from the mass of a flying object how much will ultimately hit the earth, it is nevertheless clear that a 21-ton object poses far greater risks than debris weighing between one and five tons, astronomer Jonathan McDowell told the website SpaceNews. “I congratulate China on the successful launch of the lab, but I regret that they have not changed the design of the transport rocket so that another runaway re-entry is imminent.”
The third module is expected to be in October Mengtian sent into space and added to complete the station. Three astronauts are currently working and living in the “Heaven’s Palace”. Another manned flight may follow in December. Then there should be six people in the space station temporarily. According to current plans tian gong operate for about ten years.