Beijing: The remnants of China’s largest rocket have plummeted back to Earth, plunging into the Indian ocean near the Maldives, according to Chinese state media.
Most of the debris burned up in the atmosphere, it reported, citing the Chinese Manned Space Engineering office.
Parts of the 30-metre core of the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the atmosphere at 10.24 am Beijing time (2.24am GMT) and landed at a location with the coordinates of longitude 72.47 degrees east and latitude 2.65 degrees north, state media cited the office as saying.
The US Space command confirmed the re-entry into the atmosphere of the rocket over the Arabian peninsula, but said it was unknown if the debris had hit land or water.
“The exact location of the impact and the span of debris, both of which are unknown at this time, will not be released by US Space Command,” it said in a statement.
Long March 5 rockets have been integral to China’s near-term space ambitions – from the delivery of modules and crew of its planned space station to launches of exploratory probes to the moon and even Mars. The Long March launched last week was the second deployment of the 5B variant since its maiden flight in May last year.
In May 2020, pieces from the first Long March 5B fell on Ivory Coast, damaging several buildings. No injuries were reported.
Debris from Chinese rocket launches is not uncommon within China. In late April, authorities in the city of Shiyan, Hubei Province, issued a notice to people in the surrounding county to prepare for evacuation as parts were expected to land in the area.
The core stage of the first Long March 5B that returned to Earth last year weighed nearly 20 tonnes, surpassed by debris from the Columbia space shuttle in 2003, the Soviet Union’s Salyut 7 space station in 1991, and Nasa’s Skylab in 1979.