The Sky is Falling

[Frankenkubota]

I watch the tv with the sound off......and i really don't watch very close i get snippets.

TV News just said Chinese rocket gonna fall outta the sky. That's all I know.

Ya just can't trust them. Of course I mean the news.............hmmmmmm

 

[MoKelly]

Yep. BBC confirms.

MoKelly

 

[CobyRupert]

“The US.....had no plans to shoot it down.”
???

How do you shoot down an object that is falling out of the sky?

Who would write something so idiotic...then again, this is ‘Murica, the natural desire to shoot at things has to be reported.

 

[MossRoad]

The same thing happened last May, 2020. They launched the same model rocket while testing a module. The module returned to earth safely. However, just like in this case, the rocket itself continues on into orbit, and, the Chinese did not incorporate a de-orbit mechanism. On it's last orbit, it flew directly over New York, then across the Atlantic, and crashed partially in the Ivory Coast in Africa. They found a 12 meter long section on land.

In a nutshell, that means they have NO control over when and where it's gonna land when gravity finally takes over.

The Chinese believe:
Most of the world is covered in water.
Most of the time it will crash in an ocean.

However, reality is:
Some of the world is not covered in water.
Some of the time it will crash on land.

The U.S. did a similar thing with Sky Lab back in 1979. They planned to dump it in the ocean SE of Capetown, South Africa. However, it didn't burn up as fast as they planned and it ended up crashing on Australia.

Skylab - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[kenmbz]

Ah, technology.
Remember to duck on incoming.
So much space garbage up there, surprised it's not raining metal yet.

 

[oosik]

How do you shoot something falling out of the sky. With a ground to air or air to air missile. LOCK 'N LOAD.

 

[Jstpssng]

Much of that space trash burns up on entry. Hence the option of shooting it, which would turn it into smaller fragments.
It would be an award winning skeet shot though.

 

[jjp8182]

Almost have to wonder if that "shoot it down" comment was prompted by a media question or an unsolicited statement.

Though there can be some very valid reasons to bread up/divert a falling object (if/when possible) seeing as how many small falling objects could potentially be safer than one large object hitting a densely populated area..... and if it's broken up at a high enough altitude where all the small objects burn up on descent.

Granted the real trick with that last possibility is breaking up high enough to burn, but not so high up as to leave a bunch of debris in orbit.

Whole situation just begs the question of: would dropping space debris on a foreign nation be considered an act of war if it hits a population center? (at some point willful negligence isn't much different than intentional malice)

Can't say I'd know, but I doubt many people would be happy if an 18 ton object smashed into Los Angeles (or any other major metropolitan area) at near orbital speeds (seeing as how orbital speeds around Earth generally exceed 6km/s)

...and no that's not a typo as orbital velocities around Earth tend to be in the range of kilometers per second and start climbing to 10's of km/s for planet to planet transfers....

 

[MossRoad]

It's going much slower than orbital speed after it enters the atmosphere.

 

[jjp8182]

It's going much slower than orbital speed after it enters the atmosphere.

Yes, it slows.... though how much depends on the drag created -- which is also a function of the speed and potentially orientation/stability of the falling object.

Some things burn up completely, some things don't .....and some things break up in descent really depends on construction of the item.

....either way unless things are intentionally slowed impact velocities generally aren't trivial even at realtively "slow" aircraft flight speeds.