A sinewy rocket is set to blast off from Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan on a mission to expand China ’s first space place . exchangeable to previous launching of the Long March 5B , however , the rocket could do a dangerous uncontrolled reentry on its return .
China is in the midst of constructing its Tiangong blank space post — the nation ’s answer to the International Space Station — with one of the place ’s modules already in place . China ’s space agency is gearing up to establish the station ’s Wentian mental faculty , which is set to occur this Sunday July 24 from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan .
Space.comreports that China get down the rollout of its Long March 5B Eruca sativa — a 174 - foot - tall ( 53 meter ) and 1.87 - million - quid ( 848,220 kilograms ) Eruca sativa — to the launchpad over a two hour period on Monday . Once set up , the Wentian module will rendezvous with the Tianhe mental faculty in crushed Earth orbit , where Tianhe ’s robotic arm will move Wentian into its last position . ThreeShenzhou-14 astronautswill greet the mental faculty upon its arrival .
The Long March 5B rocket that launched the first module of Tiangong—called Tianhe—into orbit in April 2021.Image: STR/CNS/AFP (Getty Images)
The Long March 5B rocket is somewhat ill-famed , as it ’s the same model ofout - of - control rocketthat hurtle uncontrollably back to Earth last spring , with debris finally landing in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives . It could ’ve been much bad , as the potential existed for junk to land on inhabited areas . And in fact , thisexact thinghappened following the May 20 , 2020 launch of a Long March 5B garden rocket , with debris fall onto the west coast of Africa and damaging some structures ( gratefully no one was hurt ) . A recent study suggests there ’s a10 % jeopardy in the next decade that fall rocket character will do casualty , so this is hardly idle talk .
Gizmodo asked Jonathan McDowell , an astrophysicist at the Harvard - Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , if another uncontrolled reentry of Long March 5B skyrocket parts is possible . “ I would say it is almost certain , ” he replied via electronic mail . “ I will be very pleasantly surprised if they have changed the substance stage design . I require they have not and we are up for another ride like the last time . ”
With the launch and placement of Wentian , Tiangong will be midway completed . Tianhe , the first faculty whose name translates to “ Harmony of the Heavens , ” was launched inApril 2021 , and will serve as the station ’s life bread and butter , living quarter , restraint center , and docking hub for the remaining modules . Wentian , or “ Quest for the Heavens , ” will boast extra bunch twenty-five percent , but the main function of the module is to function as a base for scientific research . Two more module — Mengtian and Xuntian — are scheduled to launch in October 2022 and during an unspecified launching in 2023 .
China is ramp up its efforts to poise itself as a significant actor in quad , but the country is establish a cut record of behaving mischievously along the way . Hopefully things will go smoothly for the approaching launching , but for China , the uncontrolled reentry of Long March 5B rockets may be a feature and not a bug , and that ’s sad .
More : What to Know About Lunar Gateway , NASA ’s Future Moon - Orbiting Space Station
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