Navy in 2008 launched a missile to hit a malfunctioning spy satellite falling out of orbit. shooting down debris as it falls to Earth. Why Space Debris Cleanup Might Be a National Security Threat Inside the Growing Problem of Space Debris

Today's D Brief: POTUS won’t order troops vaccinated Border projects cancelled 10 years after OBL Falling Chinese rocket And a bit more. Space Command said in a separate statement that where the rocket will hit depends on “too many factors to take into account this early, such as the atmospheric conditions and the exact angle of the object as it enters the atmosphere.” Space Command’s 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is tracking the rocket. Space Command said in a statement, raising questions about whether that would be too late to take action if its path threatens a local population. The rocket’s exact entry point into the Earth's atmosphere won’t be known “until within hours of its reentry,” U.S. When pressed further about what action the Pentagon could take if the rocket body does look like it will threaten land, Austin said 'we have the capability to do a lot of things, but we don't have a plan to shoot it down, as we speak.' We're hopeful that it will land in a place where it won't harm anyone, hopefully, in the ocean or -or someplace like that,' Austin said. 'We don't have a plan to shoot the rocket down. On Thursday at a Pentagon press briefing with reporters, Austin said there was still no plan -yet. Asked whether the secretary had developed plans to strike the rocket debris and break it up into smaller pieces, or quickly notify allies once its trajectory is known, Kirby said it was too early to take that action. “The Secretary is aware and he knows that Space Command is tracking,” Kirby said Wednesday. Then in 2022, a different Chinese satellite grabbed a dead satellite and threw it into a “graveyard” orbit where it is less likely to collide with spacecraft.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is monitoring a free-falling Chinese rocket that could strike Earth this weekend, but has not developed options to destroy the debris if it is projected to hit land.Ī 100-foot section of the Long March 5B rocket is anticipated to fall to Earth around May 8, but it’s “too soon to explore options about what, if anything, can be done about this until we have a better sense of where it's coming down,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. An aerospace industry observer told the outlet that the US must have been able to use that data to determine the debris trajectory.In April 2021, China launched a robot prototype that was capable of catching space junk with a large net. NASA administrator Bill Nelson accused China of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.”Nelson also accused China of not sharing “specific trajectory information” that would help NASA determine where space junk would fall.However, according to China Daily, the China Manned Space Agency’s website published daily updates on the rocket.

In August, a Long March 5B Chinese rocket launch spread debris over the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is capable of carrying up to 8,000 pounds into low Earth orbit.Defense Officials told the US Naval Institute, who first reported on the rocket’s descent, that the debris was traveling at roughly 17,000 miles per hour when it fell to Earth.The descent was not planned, according to officials, though the object was being tracked by the North American Aerospace Defense Command and was considered space junk.China has been criticized for its handling of space junk recently. The rocket was reportedly launched on June 23, 2021, and carried three military surveillance satellites meant for use over the South China Sea. No injuries or damage have been reported.The object was the second stage of a Chang Zheng 2D rocket.

Newly surfaced reports have detailed that the remains of the second stage of a Chinese rocket fell to earth on Tuesday, disintegrating in the atmosphere above Texas.It is not known at this time if any debris touched down but none has been recovered as of yet however, area military specialists are searching an area miles wide and hundreds of miles long.

Chinese spaceship falling to earth