With Another China’s failure to successfully launch a rocket into the outer space, the Chinese Long March 5B is set to crash on Earth.
US Space Force has predicted that the 100ft long, weighing 22 metric ton rocket will fall on 8th may 2021 at 22:11 (10:41 IST), while ESA has predicted the time of fall to be on 9th May, 1:01 PM IST.
The US Space Commander stated that its exact point of entry into Earth’s atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within the hours of its reentry.
US also expects China to pay for any damage caused by the rocket. In this matter an US State department spokesperson also made a statement via email ; “China, like the United States, is Party to the Liability Convention and as such, would be liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space object on the surface of the Earth or to aircraft in flight,” the spokesperson said. “We encourage all States to operate transparently and responsibly in conducting their space activities.”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69248924/1232586805.0.jpg "Chinese Falling Rocket Poses Little to No Danger to Humans 1")
However, the founder of the Space Safety Coalition Dan Oltrogge stated “Much of the Earth is covered in water, so there’s almost no risk.” Further on reports suggest that the rocket cannot be controlled by the space agency.
The rocket named Chinese Long March 5B is orbiting Earth at 41.5 degree inclination (or tilt) from the equator. This means it passes over a large portion of land ranging from as south as Chile to the top half of New Zealand and as far north as New York and Madrid.
This is not the first time such an incident occurred due to a Chinese Space vehicle, back in 2018 Tiangong-1 i.e; China’s first prototype space station was another massive object which reentered the Earth’s atmosphere and crashed into the south Pacific Ocean.
To conclude the probability of the rocket causing any sort of human damage is negligible.
Share your thoughts and opinions on China’s second such failure.
