back to article Spent Chinese rocket booster splashes down over Southeast Asia

Debris leftover from China's Long March 5B rocket has reportedly crashed down into the sea off the Philippines, and scattered on land by the borders of Indonesia and Malaysia. The 23-ton piece of junk measured 53.6 metres in length, and was a booster component of the China National Space Administration's (CNSA) most advanced …

  1. Jim Mitchell
    Black Helicopters

    So all the debris landed in Chinese territorial waters, everything is fine, nothing to see here.

    1. John Doe 12

      Plenty to see if you squint hard enough ;-)

  2. Lordrobot

    HOW DARE THE CHINESE... NASA's exploding Space Shuttles fell to earth Predictably

    NASA virtue signalling. What about the rubbish you left on the surface of the moon?

    "We didn't leave any rubbish on the moon. We left all that in the video studio."

    1. Apollo-Soyuz 1975
      FAIL

      Re: HOW DARE THE CHINESE... NASA's exploding Space Shuttles fell to earth Predictably

      Please tell us that that was just a subpar attempt at a piss-take.

    2. My-Handle

      Re: HOW DARE THE CHINESE... NASA's exploding Space Shuttles fell to earth Predictably

      I'm going to pretend that you're arguing in good faith for a moment...

      Do you think that the issue here might be less about littering and more about the possibility of fragments of a 20+ tonne rocket booster dropping on someone's head at terminal velocity?

      Do you think at all before posting?

    3. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: HOW DARE THE CHINESE... NASA's exploding Space Shuttles fell to earth Predictably

      CCP does not care about anything except the CCP (and world domination). I think we can expect them to behave like BAD NEIGHBORS, especially if letting us know about falling debris would in ANY way cause them to look less than perfect by anyone's observation.

      Either that or it was aimed at Taiwan and they missed...

      1. abstract

        Re: HOW DARE THE CHINESE... NASA's exploding Space Shuttles fell to earth Predictably

        Taiwan is China, they are not going to target themselves.

        1. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

          Re: HOW DARE THE CHINESE... NASA's exploding Space Shuttles fell to earth Predictably

          That’s odd. But they will threaten themselves? Perhaps wage war on themselves?

      2. Kabukiwookie

        Re: HOW DARE THE CHINESE... NASA's exploding Space Shuttles fell to earth Predictably

        CCP does not care about anything except the CCP (and world domination).

        I think you misspelled USA.

  3. PhilipN Silver badge

    Should I be worried or relieved?

    That NASA cannot track space junk falling out of the sky?

    Alright, pull the other one.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Should I be worried or relieved?

      Tracking it with high precision requires data...

    2. My-Handle

      Re: Should I be worried or relieved?

      As far as I understand it, they can track it in orbit reasonably well, mostly because there aren't many external forces acting on debris. This makes it's orbital track fairly predictable. Once it enters into the atmosphere, aerodynamics make it's path more chaotic. If the object is irregularly shaped and / or tumbling, or if it starts breaking up, it's path can get extremely chaotic very quickly, making it nearly impossible to accurately predict where it'll eventually come down.

      1. that one in the corner Silver badge

        Re: Should I be worried or relieved?

        I'm informed that the plasma surrounding the object as it decelerates also knackers radar returns, so even if it were behaving nicely a de-orbiting object is hard to track. Let alone with tumbling and the breaking up.

  4. Kurgan

    Can you please stop using the word "slam"?

    Nowadays people "slam" other people. This term is horrible. Can't you just say "criticize"?

    1. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
      Headmaster

      Re: Can you please stop using the word "slam"?

      I for one say Criticise.

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