08-05-21, 21:14
|
#2
|
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 47,688
Thanks: 27,647
Thanked 14,458 Times in 10,262 Posts
|
Re: LIVE Tracker Shows MASSIVE Rocket Hurtling to Earth
Chinese Rocket LIVE Tracker: Latest Location of MASSIVE Projectile Hurtling to Earth
Chinas' Long March 5B rocket body is free-falling back to Earth and there are fears remnants could fall on populated areas, though experts say the probability is "low"
BBC News, .8 MAY 2021.
A live video stream shows the latest location of a massive Chinese rocket that is set to crash back on Earth on Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
An area near New Zealand's North Island was identified as a possible crash location, though it could fall anywhere, say experts
The tracker shows the position of the Long March 5B rocket body as it orbits the planet during a free-fall that has sparked fears that debris could fall on populated areas.
An area near New Zealand's North Island was identified as a possible crash location, but experts have said it is too difficult to say exactly where and when the free-falling remnants of the rocket will plunge back through the atmosphere.
The rocket is predicted to make an uncontrolled re-entry about 190 minutes either side of 2.11am GMT on Sunday, said EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST).
The Center for Orbital Reentry and Debris Studies (CORDS) at Aerospace Corporation, a US federally funded space-focused research and development centre, updated its prediction for re-entry to four hours on either side of 0330 GMT on Sunday.
Earlier, the Pentagon had predicted a re-entry of 11pm GMT on Saturday with a window of nine hours on either side.
The US military said the uncontrolled re-entry was being tracked by US Space Command, and there were no plans to shoot down debris.
EU SST said on its website that the statistical probability of a ground impact in populated areas is "low", but noted that the uncontrolled nature of the object made any predictions uncertain.
In late April, authorities in the city of Shiyan, Hubei province, issued a notice to people in the surrounding county to prepare for evacuation as parts were expected to land in the area.
The latest Long March rocket launched on April 29 was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May last year.
The empty core stage has been losing altitude since last week, but the speed of its orbital decay remains uncertain due to unpredictable atmospheric variables.
The Long March 5 family of rockets have been integral to China's near-term space ambitions - from the delivery of modules and crew of its planned space station to launches of exploratory probes to the moon and even Mars.
The core stage of the first Long March 5B that returned to Earth last year weighed nearly 20 tonnes, surpassed only by debris from the Columbia space shuttle in 2003, the Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station in 1991, and NASA's Skylab in 1979.
|
|
|