China says the chances of its rocket causing damage during the fall are “extremely low”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has assured that the chances that the rocket Long March 5B cause damage in its fall to the ground, scheduled for this weekend, are “extremely low”as reported this Saturday by the Chinese news portal netasi.

The spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, referred this Friday to what has already been said in other interventions this week: “In its final phase, the rocket re-enters the atmosphere, where most of its components will be destroyed“.

This is one “international general practice”Zhao explained Wednesday, adding that China “has always acted in space in accordance with international law”.

Likewise, after being asked if China would notify countries where debris could fall when it received information, Zhao assured that China “participates in mechanisms of multilateral cooperation like the United Nations, which provides for the exchange of data and information ”and that the Asian country“ is closely monitoring ”the situation.

According to calculations by some experts, based on observations and mathematical models, the remains of the vehicle, in case it had not completely disintegrated in the atmosphere, would fall somewhere near the 41st parallel, most likely in the ocean.

The Chinese rocket, which took off on July 24 from the island of Hainan to carry a module to the Chinese orbital space stationthe Tiangongnow it is circling the Earth.

As the rocket loses height in its elliptical orbit, it will be possible to reduce uncertainty and adjust the time and place of the fall of the remainsin the event that it does not disintegrate in its entirety upon collision with the shield of the earth’s atmosphere.

In May last year, another rocket Long March 5B alerted surveillance services around the world, but ended up almost completely disintegrating and its remains fell into the Indian Oceanwithout causing damage.

In recent years, Beijing has invested heavily in its space program, achieving successes such as the lunar probe. Change 4That landed on the dark side of the moon in January 2019, a milestone never reached before in the history of space exploration.

the space station Tiangongwhich in Mandarin means “heavenly palace”, is under construction and it will be ready by the end of this yearaccording to official forecasts.

In 2024, it is likely to become the only space station in the world if the International Space Station, an initiative led by the United States and vetoed by China, is withdrawn that year, as planned.

Source: EFE.