Another Large Space Debris from China Falling Alert [Reading Science]

On the 31st of last month, the first stage of the rocket for launching the independent space station module
is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and fall at an unpredictable time and location within about a week

A photo taken by a resident of Kuching, Malaysia, on July 31. An object presumed to be debris from the Chinese Long March 5B rocket is falling while shining like fireworks. Photo source=Twitter.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "Another large piece of Chinese space debris is falling."

China completed its independent space station 'Tiangong' on the 31st of last month, and the large rocket used for this is scheduled to re-enter the atmosphere and fall soon, triggering a global alert again from the 1st.

On the same day at around 3:37 AM, China launched the Mengtian module, the third and final module of Tiangong, using the Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. About 13 hours later, at around 4:27 PM, it officially announced the successful docking with the already established Tiangong first and second modules in low Earth orbit at approximately 380 km. China launched the first residential module, Tianhe, in April last year, and the second module, Wentian, into orbit in July.

With this, China now has its second independent space station following the Tiangong-1, which fell in 2018. It has installed 20 laboratories equipped with various scientific instruments such as low-temperature furnaces, high-temperature smelting furnaces, atomic clocks, and centrifuges, planning to conduct about 1,000 scientific experiments over approximately 10 years. By next year or the year after, it plans to launch and dock the optical telescope Shuntian, which has performance comparable to the Hubble Space Telescope, to add space observation capabilities.

Rocket carrying parts of China's space station 'Tiangong' launched
(Wenchang, Reuters=Yonhap News) On the 31st (local time), at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Hainan Province, southern China, the Long March 5BY4 rocket carrying the Mengtian experimental module, necessary for the completion of China's manned space station 'Tiangong' (Heavenly Palace), is being launched.

The problem is that during this process, large space rocket debris is again falling to the Earth's surface, raising concerns about potential damage in worst-case scenarios. The first stage of the Long March 5B rocket used to launch the Mengtian module is currently orbiting Earth every 90 minutes in low Earth orbit. It is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and fall within a week in an uncontrolled and unpredictable manner. Previously, the first stages of the Long March 5B rockets used in the launches of Tiangong modules in April last year and July this year also followed the same path, causing the world to suffer from alerts about 'large space debris.'

The first stage of the Long March 5B rocket weighs 21 tons, and it is highly likely that some parts will survive atmospheric re-entry and collide with the Earth's surface. Other countries separate the first stage within the atmosphere during rocket launches and make it fall into designated sea areas, but China separates the first stage only after reaching the target altitude, causing the same problem to recur.

Chinese space authorities remain silent on this issue but claim to be developing measures to prevent space debris generation and maintain that there is no damage because the debris burns up upon orbital entry. However, on July 11, the international academic journal Nature Astronomy projected that under the current circumstances, there is a 10% chance of casualties occurring within 10 years due to uncontrolled falls of such large space debris.