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China said on Friday that its launcher, which put the first module of the new space station into orbit, was “extremely low”, although the United States had previously warned that debris from the missile could land in a residential area.
US military experts predict that the hull of the Long March 5B missile dislodged from the Chinese space station will fall on Saturday or Sunday, but warned that it is difficult to predict when and where it will happen.
Beijing does not overcome the danger
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that “most of the components will be destroyed by friction once they reach the atmosphere.”
“The probability of damage to aviation or people … is extremely low on Earth,” he added.
Most of the missile’s components are likely to be destroyed when they return to the atmosphere, the official said, promising that the government “will inform the public about the situation in a timely manner.”
China has spent billions of dollars on space exploration in an effort to highlight its growing global role and technological power, following in the footsteps of the United States, Russia and Europe beyond Earth.
The second Tiangong 2 space station has been launched in China
With feverish speculation on social media about the trajectory of the missile returning to Earth, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the US military had no plans to shoot it down.
“We can do a lot, but we have no plans to shoot down the missile,” Austin told reporters.
According to him, the object is expected to fall “in a place where no one will be harmed”, “in the ocean or in a similar place”.
Even if the rocket or parts of it fall from the sky without breaking, there is a high probability that they will simply fall into the ocean, since more than 70 percent of the planets are made up of water.
However, Austin made clear that the Chinese negligently allowed the missile projectile to go out of orbit, stressing that “space workers” should “act safely and prudently.”
“State of science”
The space has become the last stage for the exchange of influence between China and the United States.
Launched in April, China’s first Tiangong space station, which means “Palace of Heaven” in Chinese and features life support equipment and living space for astronauts, became a major achievement for Beijing in implementing an ambitious plan for the continued presence of humans in space. .
The second Tiangong 2 space station has been launched in China
© Sipa / Scanpix
President Xi Jinping called the event an essential step in “building a great state of science and technology.”
When the International Space Station (ISS) expires in 2024, China’s space station could become the only one in Earth’s orbit.
Although Chinese space agencies have said they are open to working with foreigners, the scope of potential initiatives remains unclear.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has sent astronauts to train in China so that they are ready to work on the Chinese space station when it launches.
Beijing also announced in March its intention to build a separate lunar station with Russia.
The facility, which is planned to operate on the surface or in the orbit of the terrestrial satellite, would be equipped with facilities for experimental research and would make China the largest international space cooperation project to date.
The Long March accident is not the first time that the country has lost control of an apparatus that is returning to the Earth’s atmosphere.
In 2018, the Tiangong 1 space laboratory uncontrollably collapsed into the planet’s atmosphere, two years after the end of its operation, although the Chinese government denied losing control.
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