After accomplishing a noteworthy milestone of launching 18 Qianfan satellites, China’s Long March 6A rocket broke apart on August 6, producing almost 300 pieces of trackable debris in low Earth orbit.

The first wave of these satellites was supposed to form China’s “own version of Elon Musk’s Starlink,” the Qianfan (“Thousand Sails”) broadband network. The rocket was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, located in the Shanxi Province of North China.

A report by The Wall Street Journal states that the breakup of the rocket generated a new concern over Beijing’s attitude towards space junk.

Also Read | China Rocket Ends Up As 300-Piece Space Junk After Satellite Constellation Launch

The report quoted LeoLabs, a US space-tracking firm, as saying the event might create at least 700 fragments floating some 500 miles above earth, making it one of the largest rocket breakups in history. Starlink said the debris didn’t pose significant immediate risks to its fleet, but the fragments are “likely to remain in space for decades due to the incident occurring at a high altitude.”

#USSPACECOM statement on the break-up of a Chinese Long March 6A rocket: pic.twitter.com/Kf5cz0iZky

— U.S. Space Command (@US_SpaceCom) August 8, 2024

China and other countries are pressing ahead with plans to increase rocket launches, raising risks for humans and satellites in orbit. Yet there is little global policing of unsustainable practices.

“Who can enforce anything in space? It’s a bit like the Wild West at times,” Quentin Parker, director of the Laboratory for Space Research at the University of Hong Kong, told WSJ.

Darren McKnight, senior technical fellow at LeoLabs, said China’s recent record on generating debris related to Long March 6 launches was worrisome. “I hope it’s a wake-up call for them, and they’ll be part of the international dialogue,” he said.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, said last week that China “attaches great importance to space debris mitigation” and “has taken active efforts to fulfill relevant international obligations.” Without giving details, he said China took necessary measures after the recent rocket breakup.

It also said in the report that the Chinese activities in space are pointing toward a worrisome tendency in the direction of space junk. In 2022, a rocket stage from China had an uncontrolled re-entry into the Sulu Sea, wherein NASA criticised it for less-than-adequate data provision. Major pieces of junk have been created by Chinese rocket launches, including Long March 6A missions, which are notorious for their bad history. While other countries did better, Chinese behavior was largely responsible for space debris that affects low-Earth orbit environments.

New Delhi:

China’s Long March 6A rocket broke apart creating over 300 pieces of trackable debris in low Earth orbit, after achieving a significant milestone of launching 18 Qianfan satellites, the US Space Command (USSPACECOM) said today.

The 18 satellites were part of the first batch aimed to establish China’s “own version of Elon Musk’s Starlink”, called the Qianfan (“Thousand Sails”) broadband network.

The satellites were launched on Tuesday on the Long March 6A rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China’s Shanxi Province.

The satellites were designed and built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Innovation Academy for Microsatellites in Shanghai.

While the rocket successfully delivered the satellites at an altitude of about 800 kilometres, soon after its upper stage broke apart. The breakup generated a cloud of debris that is trackable around Earth, the USSPACECOM said.

“USSPACECOM can confirm the breakup of a Long March 6A rocket launched on Aug. 6, 2024, resulting in over 300 pieces of trackable debris in low Earth orbit,” the organisation said in a statement, posted on social media platform X.com on Friday.

“USSPACECOM has observed no immediate threats and continues to conduct routine conjunction assessments to support the safety and sustainability of the space domain,” it added.

China launched the Qianfan mega constellation project in 2023 to provide more extensive and high-quality communication services for domestic users.

Developed by the Shanghai-based company SpaceSail, the Qianfan network is reported to establish a network of over 15,000 low earth orbit (LEO) wide-screen multimedia satellites in the long run, of which 108 satellites will be launched this year and 648 satellites by 2025 end.

By 2027, the constellation aims to provide global network coverage, and ultimately by 2030, encompass 15,000 satellites providing integrated services such as direct mobile connections, Global Times reported.

On the other hand, SpaceX’s Starlink currently has more than 6,000 satellites in space and has more than 3 million customers in 100 countries.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A US family whose home was hit by space debris earlier this year is seeking compensation from the American space agency NASA for property damage and mental anguish. The metallic cylinder slab punched a hole in the roof through two layers of ceiling in Alejandro Otero’s home in Naples in March. Back then, NASA said that the object was part of a 2.9-ton pallet of used batteries jettisoned from the International Space Station in March 2021. Mr Otero said his son was nearly injured by the impact. 

Now, law firm Cranfill Summer said in a press release that it filed a claim on behalf of Mr Otero and his family. It listed damages including non-insured property damage loss, business interruption, emotional/mental anguish and the costs for assistance from third parties. 

According to the BBC, Attorney Mica Nguyen Worthy said space debris “is a real serious issue because of the increase in space traffic in recent years”. “My clients are seeking adequate compensation to account for the stress and impact that this event had on their lives,” she added. 

Separately, speaking to CBS affiliate Wink-TV Mr Otero said that the space junk created a tremendous sound” as it blasted into his home. “I was shaking. I was completely in disbelief. What are the chances of something landing on my house with such force to cause so much damage,” Mr Otero said.

Also Read | NASA Shares Stunning Pic Of Rare “Gigantic Jets” Spotted Over Himalayas

The US space agency confirmed that the debris was from its flight support equipment. It was a metal support used to hold old batteries on a disposal pallet jettisoned from the station in 2021. While most of the pallet was expected to burn up in the atmosphere, this particular piece survived the fiery re-entry.

 “The hardware was expected to fully burn up during entry through Earth’s atmosphere on March 8, 2024. However, a piece of hardware survived and impacted a home in Naples, Florida,” the agency said. The ISS will “perform a detailed investigation” on how the debris survived burn-up, according to Nasa. 

The BBC reported that the agency now has 6 months to respond to Mr Otero’s claims. 

A man in North Carolina was left astonished after he found a massive, mysterious object on a remote hiking trail. According to the New York Post, Justin Clontz, who is a groundskeeper at a luxury campsite, said he was “shocked” to find the massive object covered in dense metal sheets held together by unearthly-looking bolts.

The debris, which appeared to be covered in burnt carbon fibre, is at least 3 feet wide, about an inch thick, and stands at nearly 4 feet tall, according to the outlet. Though the object was burned, the surrounding area showed no signs of damage.

“It’s once in a lifetime you know, it doesn’t happen every day. We don’t know what it is. We just know that it’s not from up here,” Mr Clontz told a local TV station.

He explained, ”I just tied a rope to it and drugged it out with a lawn mower. It’s a one in a million chance that it lands especially if it landed somewhere off the trail in the woods you’d have never found it, but it just happened to land on the trail.”

See the pic here:
 

Man astonished by finding mysterious object along NC mountain trail
byu/gaukonigshofen inNorthCarolina

Experts speculate the object could have fallen to earth from SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, according to Space.com. Astronomer Jonathon McDowell added on X that the debris ”definitely looks consistent with being a bit of the Crew-7 Dragon’s trunk which reentered on a path right over this location on Tuesday.”

Notably, The Dragon spacecraft consists of two main parts: the capsule and the trunk. The trunk supports the spacecraft during ascent and carries unpressurized cargo. Typically, the trunk burns up in the atmosphere during reentry, but occasionally, parts can survive and fall back to Earth.

The owner of the campsite Glamping Collective said that they plan on reaching out to aerospace experts to figure out what exactly it is and where it came from.

”Space debris was not on our list of things we expected to be having conversations about. The only thing we’ve been able to come up with is that it’s some type of space debris that fell. It doesn’t look like anything off of an aeroplane,” said Matt Bare, owner of The Glamping Collective.

No injuries were reported in connection with the suspected piece of space junk.