Chinese Space Debris to Fall Tonight... Government Announces "Precise Monitoring"

Ministry of Science and ICT - Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute Begin Monitoring Activities
"Low Possibility of Falling on the Korean Peninsula"

The scene of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket crash witnessed around Malaysia and the Philippines on July 31. Photo source - Twitter.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The government took measures on the night of the 4th in response to the expected fall of large Chinese space debris.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the same day that it is monitoring the risk of crash due to the re-entry of the Chinese space launch vehicle "Long March 5B debris" into the atmosphere. This large space debris is the upper part of the launch vehicle used by China on the 31st of last month for the third phase module (Mengtian) launch to build the "Tiangong" space station. It is estimated to weigh 21 tons, with a length of 31 meters and a diameter of 5 meters.

The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute expects this large space debris to re-enter the atmosphere and fall around 11 p.m. tonight (±6 hours). Accordingly, the Ministry of Science and ICT is conducting space surveillance activities together with the Astronomy Institute to prepare for the risk of rocket debris falling on the Korean Peninsula.

China's Long March 5B is a large space launch vehicle weighing 837 tons, developed to transport modules for the space station. Experts believe that some parts of the launch vehicle debris may not be completely incinerated in the atmosphere and could fall to the ground. The same situation occurred last April and after the launch of the first and second phase modules on July 1, causing global alerts.

Expected Debris Fall Range of China's Changzheng 5B Rocket. Image Source=Ministry of Science and ICT

However, based on the current orbit, the possibility of this large space debris falling on the Korean Peninsula is very low.

The Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "We plan to continue close monitoring in preparation for possible orbital changes."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.