A Huge Chinese Rocket Core Will Kill Us All!!!

[Dawkins 20]

Well, maybe some of us.

 

Quote

Huge Chinese rocket core falling ‘out of control’ back to Earth

By Josh K. Elliott Global News

Posted May 4, 2021 2:20 pm

Updated May 4, 2021 5:16 pm

 

A hulking, out-of-control Chinese rocket core is currently pinwheeling around the globe once every 90 minutes, and there’s no telling exactly when — or where — it will come crashing down to Earth in a potentially dangerous re-entry.

The object is a 30-metre tall, 21-tonne leftover from China’s Long March 5B rocket, which carried a piece of its new Tianhe space station into orbit on Apr. 29. The rocket launched its cargo into space before its core tumbled into a chaotic temporary orbit around Earth, where it’s been rapidly circling the planet while slowly falling ever since, SpaceNews reports.

The core, dubbed CZ-5B, was initially expected to make a harmless reentry, but observers say it appears to be falling out of control, making it hard to predict exactly where it will come down. Its path takes it over much of the globe, but projections suggest it could fall as far south as Chile or New Zealand, and as far north as New York State or Ontario.

The booster was travelling at roughly 28,000 kilometres per hour while circling 300 kilometres above the Earth on Tuesday, according to tracking data. At 21 tonnes, experts say it’s large enough to avoid burning up in the atmosphere when it eventually does come down.

"It’s potentially not good,” Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, told The Guardian. He says it will likely fall into the ocean but it could leave a swath of destruction if it falls over land, in what would be the "equivalent of a small plane crash scattered over 100 miles.”

Space agencies typically have plans for disposing of such large pieces of junk, including built-in burners that can knock a core out of orbit when necessary, but that’s not the case with this rocket core. Chinese officials are essentially crossing their fingers and watching, while hoping that it lands in the ocean and not over land.

"What’s bad is that it’s really negligent on China’s part,” McDowell said. "Things more than 10 tonnes, we don’t let them fall out of the sky uncontrolled deliberately.”

The U.S. military and European space officials are among the many groups tracking the core’s descent.

It’s just the second time that China has launched one of these rockets, and the second time that it’s been accused of being careless with the leftovers.

The first Long March 5B rocket was launched on May 5, 2020, and its core also entered temporary orbit for nearly a week. The object eventually came down and crashed near some villages in the Ivory Coast on May 11, in a fall that sparked a fierce rebuke from NASA at the time.

The object was damaged by the heat of entering the atmosphere, but a 12-metre-long pipe reportedly survived the fall along with other bits of debris.

No deaths or injuries were reported from that incident.

Experts are hoping luck will be on everyone’s side when this latest booster falls back to Earth sometime around May 10. McDowell says it will be possible to predict the crash location about six hours before it hits.

At 21 tonnes, the rocket would be one of the largest objects to make an uncontrolled re-entry in the last 30 years. It’s still small in comparison to SkyLab, the 76-tonne NASA station that made a fiery return to Earth in 1979. Most of SkyLab fell into the Indian Ocean, but it also scattered debris across an uninhabited stretch of Australia when it came down.

China’s recent launch is the first of a planned 11 missions to set up China’s Tianhe (Heavenly Harmony) space station by the end of next year. That means there will be more Long March 5B rockets going up — and more coming down — in the months ahead.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7832240/china-rocket-core-falling-long-march-5b/

Here's a link to the projected path...

https://orbit.ing-now.com/satellite/48275/2021-035b/cz-5b/

 

[paco]

I saw this yesterday.  My biggest takeaway is its so erratic that they have no idea where its going to land and when they will its going to be too late.

 

If it lands on my head, I just want you all to know I truly, truly hate In N Out burger and you freaks that like it are part of a cult

[NOTW]

[EaglesRocker97]

Don't threaten me with a good time.

[EagleJoe8]

Hopefully it lands on the site of the next Flat Earth Conference. 
 

 

 

Or Jerry’s World. 

[Dawkins 20]

Anyone have Falling Chinese Rocket Cores on their Covid bingo card?

[Talkingbirds]

[NOTW]

China: we have an out of control rocket that could crash to earth.

US: we have just the crew to handle this. Just cancel our debts.

[20dawk4life]

Is this why Armageddon was on yesterday? 

[PoconoDon]

This is a job for Space Force:

[paco]

26 minutes ago, PoconoDon said:

This is a job for Space Force:

 

In all seriousness, it really is.

[lynched1]

Has New York been taken already? 

[Bill]

Based on the thread title I thought it was some kind of doomsday device. 
 

 

 

 

[Seventy_Yard_FG]

It says we’ll get 6 hours notice so just let me know

[paco]

Is it wrong to have rooting interest in a few locations?

[Dave Moss]

8 minutes ago, paco said:

Is it wrong to have rooting interest in a few locations?

The 50-yard-line of AT&T Stadium

[Dawkins 20]

39 minutes ago, Dave Moss said:

The 50-yard-line of AT&T Stadium

As divided as CVON is, I feel like this is something we can all agree on. 

[JohnSnowsHair]

Mods please merge this with the flat earth thread so the sheep can stop worrying about fantasies like space junk

[toolg]

China is reporting the rocket fell last night somewhere near the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean. 

 

[toolg]

 

[greend]

On 5/5/2021 at 10:04 AM, 20dawk4life said:

Is this why Armageddon was on yesterday? 

It's always on somewhere

[Green_Guinness]

4 hours ago, greend said:

It's always on somewhere

 

[Toastrel]

Huge failure.

Landed near India and not only did it not destroy the world, it didn't kill anyone at all.

[PoconoDon]

14 hours ago, Toastrel said:

Huge failure.

Landed near India and not only did it not destroy the world, it didn't kill anyone at all.