Can China be held responsible for debris from its rocket falling uncontrollably to Earth?

A 23-tonne piece of a Chinese rocket plummeting to Earth had scientists on alert. Where would it crash?

Now the debris from the rocket that boosted part of China’s new space station into orbit fell into the sea in the Philippines on Sunday, the Chinese government announced.

Most of the final stage of the Long March-5B rocket burned up after entering the atmosphere, the China Manned Space Agency reported. The agency had said earlier that the booster would be allowed to fall unguided.

The announcement gave no details of whether the 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 the Philippine city of Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan, reports The Associated Press.

Luckily, there was no reported damage in a western Philippine region where the debris from the rocket reportedly fell, a Filipino official said Monday. Philippine Space Agency official Marc Talampas said authorities have been advised to be on the lookout for the debris, which may have splashed down into seawaters off Palawan province.

China is a repeat offender when it comes to space junk and has faced criticism in the past over its debris, especially objects re-entering Earth.

What is space debris?

Space junk, or space debris, is any piece of machinery or debris left by humans in space.

It can refer to big objects such as dead satellites that have failed or been left in orbit at the end of their mission. It can also refer to smaller things, like bits of debris or paint flecks that have fallen off a rocket, according to the Natural History Museum (NHM), UK.

How does junk get into space?

Space junk is created because of the objects launched into space from Earth. Debris or satellites left at higher altitudes of 36,000 kilometres – where communications and weather satellites are often placed in geostationary orbits – can continue to circle Earth for hundreds or even thousands of years, according to NHM.

Objects in lower orbits of a few hundred kilometres return quickly; they enter the atmosphere and burn up, which stops them from hitting the ground. But the big concern is when parts of rockets fall to Earth uncontrollably.

What is an uncontrollable re-entry?

Rockets launched by most nations separate the launcher from the payload before leaving the atmosphere with an extra engine on the payload giving a final boost and allowing the launcher to fall more predictably reports Guardian.However, China appears not to want to spend weight on the second engine, and its 5B rocket – one of the largest in use – instead pushes fully into orbit before separating. The bus-sized launch section then travels through orbit for days or weeks before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the report says.

“It’s important for people to understand that among the 10 tough things that we do in space, debris re-entry is probably one of the toughest ones to predict,” Dr Darren McKnight from satellite tracking company LeoLabs told Cosmos Magazine.

How did the debris from the Chinese rocket launch hit earth?

The July 24 launch of the Long March-5B, China’s most powerful rocket, carried the Wentian laboratory into orbit. It was attached on Monday to the Tianhe main module, where three astronauts live.

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 re-entry.

Has China been responsible for similar incidents in the past?

Yes. China has faced criticism for allowing rocket stages to fall to Earth uncontrolled 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 near the Maldives.

In April, a large metal ring and sphere suspected to be from a Chinese rocket fell from the sky in a village in Maharashtra. Another object – a large, metal ball around half a metre (1.5 feet) in diameter – fell in another village in the district.

In May 2020, two villages in Ivory Coast were hit by objects – including a 12-metre section of pipe – that appeared to have come from a Chinese Long March 5B.

Even the country’s first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it lost control.

What has been China’s response to NASA’s allegations?

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that Chinese space exploration had always followed “international law and … customary practice”, and the probability of the debris causing harm was “extremely low”.

Zhao said the unit had been designed with unspecified “special technology”, and the “overwhelming majority” of its components would burn up on re-entry into the atmosphere, according to a report in Guardian.

But what happens if space junk causes damage?

According to the Space Liability Convention of 1972, a launching State shall be liable to pay compensation for damage caused by its space objects on the surface of the Earth or to aircraft, and liable for damage due to its faults in space. The Convention also provides for procedures for the settlement of claims for damages.

Nasa was fined $400 for littering when parts of its Skylab space station hit Western Australia in the 1970s. However, it has still not paid up.

However, there are no international rules to stop uncontrolled re-entries of junk for space.

The United States and the European Union conduct a risk assessment before a launch. If there is a greater than one in 10,000 chance of causing injury it will not go ahead with it. It looks like China has been slack.

With inputs from agencies

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