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US keeps close watch on Chinese Long March rocket debris, expects re-entry on Saturday
- Wreckage being tracked from Californian air force base which monitors more than 27,000 man-made objects in space
- Chinese space programme insider expects the debris to either burn up while entering the atmosphere or fall in the sea
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The US space command is closely tracking debris from the large Chinese rocket Long March 5B expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday.
In a statement on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Mike Howard said the US was aware of and tracking the location of the rocket.
The “exact entry points into the Earth’s atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its re-entry, which is expected around May 8”, he said.
“Until then, the 18th Space Control Squadron will be offering daily updates to the rocket body’s location on www.space-track.org beginning May 4. We will provide additional information as it becomes available”.
The 18th Space Control Squadron is at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It tracks more than 27,000 man-made objects in space, most of which are in low-earth orbit.
The rocket was used to launch the core module of the Tiangong Space Station on Thursday.
On Tuesday, a person with knowledge of China’s space programme said debris from the rocket was under close watch and was expected to fall in international waters.
The source, who works for China’s manned space programme, said most of the debris would probably burn up while entering the atmosphere because what remained was little more than an empty shell.
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