A Chinese rocket crashed dangerously close to the Starlink constellation

The payload fairing from a Chinese commercial rocket that launched last week broke up in mid-air, sending debris into low-Earth orbit toward the International Space Station and a large part of SpaceX’s Starlink network.

The explosion occurred shortly after the Zhuque-2E rocket landed on the ground on June 9 with two satellites that transmit messages to the cell, probably at the time when the high-altitude station was expected to destroy it. The US Space Force confirmed the latest developments in a press release space-track.orga website used by the military to distribute orbit information to the public.

“The pieces tracked are included in routine inspections to support airspace security,” the Space Force wrote in an advisory. “At the moment, there are no things that can make people afraid of flying in space.

Counting pieces

So far, the Space Force has not added pieces of junk to the official list of man-made objects. Darren McKnight, engineering partner at orbital technology company LeoLabs, told Ars that this fragmentation event could produce 100 to 150 pieces of debris.

In one phase, the second phase of the Zhuque-2E rocket, developed by a A Chinese company called LandSpacemeasured between 25 and 30 meters (about 8 feet) in length and 3.35 meters in diameter. The bulk of the rocket’s upper stage is now orbiting between 208 and 263 miles (335 and 424 kilometers) at an angle of 54.5 degrees to the equator.

The upper part of the runway passes the International Space Station, but aerodynamic drag quickly pulls all the pieces under the ISS. The debris could pose a serious threat to Starlink’s hundreds of satellites, especially those that provide direct communications with instruments and newly launched satellites, which fly much lower than the Starlink constellation.