https://spacenews.com/chinese-rocket-stage-predicted-to-reenter-atmosphere-around-may-8/
Second time in a year. Thankfully just another 10 to go Eyeroll emoji
Made me wonder if we (the US) ever paid any money to Australia for dropping Skylab onto their soil?
Wiki to the rescue.
The Shire of Esperance light-heartedly fined NASA A$400 for littering. (The fine was written off three months later, but was eventually paid on behalf of NASA in April 2009, after Scott Barley of Highway Radio raised the funds from his morning show listeners.)
There is plenty of other space crap to come down from all nationalities. One big concern is the presence of composite overwrapped pressure vessels. While the matrix and metallic liners are no match for reentry heating, carbon fiber scoffs at the environment. They can come down fully intact (sans glue and liner).
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/2/22364582/spacex-rocket-debris-falls-farm-washington
Maybe the software that controls it caught the virus too.
Totally unacceptable, but what effective recourse or leverage is there that one is willing to implement?
Eye roll emoji indeed.
There is plenty of other space crap to come down from all nationalities. One big concern is the presence of composite overwrapped pressure vessels. While the matrix and metallic liners are no match for reentry heating, carbon fiber scoffs at the environment. They can come down fully intact (sans glue and liner).
https://www.theverge.com/...alls-farm-washington
I think there is a substantial ethical difference between something went wrong and a COPV survived reentry, and launching vehicle with no intent to control the re-entry.
so… why not destroy the falling mass with surface to air missile / laser? reminds me of youtube vids i watch how the russians decided to forgo safety escape systems for cosmonauts to hit their goals
Totally unacceptable, but what effective recourse or leverage is there that one is willing to implement?
Eye roll emoji indeed.
Aegis
so… why not destroy the falling mass with surface to air missile / laser? reminds me of youtube vids i watch how the russians decided to forgo safety escape systems for cosmonauts to hit their goals
Who would shoot it down? US, China?
There is plenty of other space crap to come down from all nationalities. One big concern is the presence of composite overwrapped pressure vessels. While the matrix and metallic liners are no match for reentry heating, carbon fiber scoffs at the environment. They can come down fully intact (sans glue and liner).
https://www.theverge.com/...alls-farm-washington
I think there is a substantial ethical difference between something went wrong and a COPV survived reentry, and launching vehicle with no intent to control the re-entry.
COPV surviving reentry is not a case of “something went wrong”. It is a choice to use COPVs rather than metallic pressure vessels. It is a choice to currently create satellites with little/no ability for targeted reentry. There are many issues associated with end of life management of satellites.
There is plenty of other space crap to come down from all nationalities. One big concern is the presence of composite overwrapped pressure vessels. While the matrix and metallic liners are no match for reentry heating, carbon fiber scoffs at the environment. They can come down fully intact (sans glue and liner).
https://www.theverge.com/...alls-farm-washington
Makes me wonder about something that hit my roof. My solar went out, so I went up there and found a small electrical fire and a perfectly round hole in one of my panels, little carbon ball embedded in my roof. Could have easily been from an airplane or something, though.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Sure, you can do that, if you care about stuff landing on people. The Chinese have been ok with their boosters landing on their own cities.
It’s even possible to design a booster that will land on an ocean barge so you can reuse it. Amazing!
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Sure, you can do that, if you care about stuff landing on people. The Chinese have been ok with their boosters landing on their own cities.
It’s even possible to design a booster that will land on an ocean barge so you can reuse it. Amazing!
First stage anyway.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Sure, you can do that, if you care about stuff landing on people. The Chinese have been ok with their boosters landing on their own cities.
It’s even possible to design a booster that will land on an ocean barge so you can reuse it. Amazing!
First stage anyway.
Give them another year or two.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Sure, you can do that, if you care about stuff landing on people. The Chinese have been ok with their boosters landing on their own cities.
It’s even possible to design a booster that will land on an ocean barge so you can reuse it. Amazing!
First stage anyway.
Give them another year or two.
For a prototype, agree. Exciting times.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Only with active control and guidance software. Otherwise you are at the mercy of Mother Nature. She controls upper atmosphere/LEO drag, how the hardware tumbles and the associated life and drag, etc. But as someone alluded to, 2/3 of the planet is water. Plus a fair amount uninhabited or sparsely populated. Ultimately it is a probabilistic risk posture.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Even doing nothing (which appears to be the case for China), they have about 2/3 chance of hitting water.
If they had the skill to pick a trajectory, I expect they’d go for Taiwan 
And in that 1/3 chance they’ll let you know to hide in a safe place. It’s just a little hypergol.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Most responsible spacefaring countries spend a little extra money on their boosters to include mechanisms that late them deorbit the later stages in a controlled fashion. China decided to cheap out and not include these mechanisms. Now we are in this situation.
We can attempt to position an AEGIS ship in some places if we think it might land somewhere populated, but even that will be difficult if that happens to be more inland.
Rocket stages can be deorbited so any surviving parts land in the ocean, no? This is what I am talking about. A deorbit trajectory failure that results in parts landing on land is different than “meh, it probably won’t land on any important people”.
Only with active control and guidance software. Otherwise you are at the mercy of Mother Nature. She controls upper atmosphere/LEO drag, how the hardware tumbles and the associated life and drag, etc. But as someone alluded to, 2/3 of the planet is water. Plus a fair amount uninhabited or sparsely populated. Ultimately it is a probabilistic risk posture.
There is a difference between rocket bodies and general space debris. Anyone who puts a rocket into space can choose to safely dispose of it. The US and most other countries have policies that require controlled reentry and we will accept lower performance to meet those requirements. The Chinese just say f**k it.