You may remember the Chinese rocket Long March 5B that fell uncontrollably to Earth. A news that shook headlines throughout Spain, because although it did not cause damage, it was an event that alerted the entire space community due to the likely fatal consequences it could have had. Well, everything indicates that a new rocket, of the same model, I would suffer the same fate.
[La nave gigante china que explorará el universo: un tamaño kilométrico que irá creciendo por módulos]
The rocket in question is another Long March 5B. as collected Space.com, this is already located on the launch pad to take off on July 24. The idea is simple: take the Tiangong space station’s Wentian module into space, to join the existing module in low-Earth orbit Tianhe.
The Wentian module is expected to join the core Tianhe module in orbit hours later. The problem is that this rocket, 54 meters high and weighing 848,220 kilos, could suffer the same fate as the other previous 5Bs that fell on Earth.
the same could happen
First, some history. In May 2020, a first Long March 5B rocket went out of control on the west coast of Mauritania, in northwestern Africa. As confirmed by the United States Air Force Space Control, the parts of the 30-meter core stage that did not disintegrate upon re-entry into the atmosphere fell on inhabited land.
Although fortunately there were no injuries, some structures were affected. On the other hand, in May 2021, just one year later, the remains of a second Long March 5B fell back on Earth. Fortunately, the debris that did not disintegrate in the atmosphere fell in the indian ocean without causing any damage.
The Long March-5B Y2 rocket sits at the launch pad of Wenchang Space Launch Center
Thomson Archyde.com
The Tiangong space station is China’s alternative to the ISS, the International Space Station. The first module, the Tianhe, was launched in April last year and is considered a vital module for the station. It will be in charge of being the coupling center for the rest of the modules that the country launches in the future and it will be the control center of the rest of Tiangong.
The portal Gizmodo has consulted expert Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, about the possibility that this new Long March 5B will also suffer the same fate as its predecessors. It is something that the expert take it for granted in case China has not made modifications to the rocket’s design. In that case, he explains that the same situation could occur.
With the Tianhe already established and the Wentian on its way to join it, there are the releases of future Mengtian and Xuntian modules, expected by the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. Unfortunately, there is no estimate about when the rocket will land if it does, or in what area.
In the event that the case of the Long March 5B crash is repeated with the Wentian, we could be facing a looming danger if China uses the same rocket and the same strategy for these next two launches.