Part of a Chinese rocket weighing around 18,000 kg crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday in an uncontrolled descent. The debris measured 30.48 meters, according to a report in Science alert, this is the most significant runaway decline in man-made space debris in decades. The core stage of the Chinese Long March 5B (CZ-5B) rocket that was launched on May 5 spent several days in orbit before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and crashing on the west coast of northwest Africa.CNN reported that the debris passed directly over Los Angeles and Central Park in New York City before landing in the Atlantic Ocean.In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, China’s new large carrier rocket Long March-5B takes off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan province on May 5, 2020. The Long March-5B conducted its first flight on Tuesday, sending the test version of China’s next-generation manned spacecraft and a cargo return capsule to test in space. Image Credit: Guo Cheng / Xinhua via AP The only largest man-made pieces that ever fell from space were Skylab in 1979, Skylab’s rocket stage in 1975, and Salyut 7 in 1991. The report added that the space shuttle Columbia from 2003 could also be added to the list as it was not controlled on its descent to earth. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics tweeted about the descent. “At 17.8 tons, it is the most massive object to make an uncontrolled re-entry since the 39-ton Salyut-7 in 1991, unless you count OV-102 Columbia in 2003,” he wrote.
The CZ-5B-Y1 core stage is in a 155 x 366 km orbit, and is expected to re-enter around May 11. At 17.8 tons, it is the most massive object to make an uncontrolled re-entry since the 39-ton Salyut-7 in 1991, unless it counts OV-102 Columbia in 2003. – Jonathan McDowell (@ planet4589) May 7, 2020
The descent was also confirmed by the 18th Space Control Squadron, a unit of the United States Air Force that detects and tracks all man-made objects in Earth’s orbit.
# 18SPCS has confirmed the re-entry of the CZ-5B R / B (# 45601, 2020-027C) at 08:33 PDT on May 11, over the Atlantic Ocean. The # CZ5B launched the Chinese test crew capsule on May 5, 2020. # spaceflightsafety– 18 SPCS (@ 18SPCS) May 11, 2020
Just a day ago, the Russian space agency Roscosmos had confirmed that an old rocket that was used in previous launches had decomposed in space. The US 18 Space Control Squadron identified 65 associated pieces of the incident. Find the latest and future tech gadgets online at Tech2 Gadgets. Get tech news, gadget reviews, and ratings. Popular gadgets including specs, features, pricing, laptop, tablet and mobile device comparison Via: FirstPost
