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No reported damage in Philippines from Chinese rocket debris
A Filipino official said Monday (July 31), there was no reported damage in a western Philippine region where debris from a rocket that boosted part of China’s new space station reportedly fell.
Marc Talampas, an official with the Philippine Space Agency, said that authorities were advised to search for the wreckage of the missile, which may have fallen into sea waters off Palawan province, the Arabnews reported, citing the Associated Press.
Talampas told The Associated Press: “We are monitoring the situation and have also issued an advisory to the public to be vigilant, avoid contact with any suspected floating debris and to report to local authorities immediately.”
Most of the last stage of the Long March-5B rocket has burned up after re-entering the atmosphere, the China Manned Space Agency said on Sunday (July 31). It would allow the booster to fall without guidance, it said.
The Chinese agency announcement gave no details of whether remaining debris fell on land or sea but said the “landing area” was at 119 degrees east longitude and 9.1 degrees north latitude. That is in waters southeast of Palawan’s capital city of Puerto Princesa.
The Philippine Space Agency did not receive any notifications from its Chinese counterpart about the rocket debris.
China has faced criticism for allowing rocket stages to fall to Earth uncontrolled twice before.
NASA accused Beijing last year of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris” after parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.
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The country’s first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it lost control. An 18-ton rocket fell uncontrolled in May 2020.
China also faced criticism after using a missile to destroy one of its defunct weather satellites in 2007, creating a field of debris that other governments said might jeopardize other satellites.
The July 24 launch of the Long March-5B, China’s most-powerful rocket, carried the Wentian laboratory into orbit. It was attached to the Tianhe main module, where three astronauts live.
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The remains of a separate cargo spacecraft that serviced the station fell into a predetermined area of the South Pacific after most of it burned up on reentry, the Chinese government announced earlier.
Source: arabnews
