4 ms·

Literally a handful of cases of this happening throughout history, barring the space shuttle disasters, which were a somewhat different situation. This inciden

Literally a handful of cases of this happening throughout history, barring the space shuttle disasters, which were a somewhat different situation. This incident makes ~15 cases of debris striking people or property since the start of the space age. In most of those the debris was found either washed up on shore or landed in some wide, open area like a farm, with only 4 of those incidents involving actual hits on humans/animals, 7 humans in total (5 sailors injured in one incident, a woman tapped on the shoulder, a boy getting hit in the head and toe, and a sheep being killed).

lelandfe 3y ago
This was in December https://www.newsweek.com/china-falling-long-march-rocket-debris-explodes-village-1855676 https://www.newsweek.com/china-falling-long-march-rocket-deb...
- Symmetry 3y ago
  I believe those spent stages never made it to space, certainly they didn't make it to orbit. And because only the people living downrange of that particular launch facility have to worry it's covered by "depending on where you live".
- dotnet00 3y ago
  I count those as situations similar to the Shuttle accidents, in the Shuttle's case it was an inevitable consequence of the design that the area it had to fly over would be exposed to debris if it broke up in reentry. In the Long March's case, it is by design that the stages fall back down and often land near villages. It isn't an accident when they keep doing it despite obviously knowing that it would happen (thus the rocket debris warnings being issued prior to the launch). I count these separately because of course you're at a higher risk of getting hit when the process by which you would get hit is actively controlled in such a way that would cause the chance to be higher. In comparison, this debris strike was not intended, the battery was expected to fully burn up during reentry. The other incidents I cited were similar, they were all orbital debris that was not expected to make it back intact or hit an inhabited area.
- orbital-decay 3y ago
  These are Chinese launches and their decades-old issue with launch site locations. Very constrained trajectory (like with any other launchers), and stage falling areas are over populated areas. That's why you keep hearing about this each year. These areas aren't wide. ISS is in orbit, and the inclination of 51.6° means any debris can reenter at basically any point on the globe up to this latitude.
  - lupusreal 3y ago
    If the CCP cared, they would have started developing flyback boosters decades ago. But they rate the value of human life rather low, so they're content to continue dropping boosters on villages.

lelandfe 3y ago

This was in December https://www.newsweek.com/china-falling-long-march-rocket-debris-explodes-village-1855676 https://www.newsweek.com/china-falling-long-march-rocket-deb...

Symmetry 3y ago
I believe those spent stages never made it to space, certainly they didn't make it to orbit. And because only the people living downrange of that particular launch facility have to worry it's covered by "depending on where you live".
dotnet00 3y ago
I count those as situations similar to the Shuttle accidents, in the Shuttle's case it was an inevitable consequence of the design that the area it had to fly over would be exposed to debris if it broke up in reentry. In the Long March's case, it is by design that the stages fall back down and often land near villages. It isn't an accident when they keep doing it despite obviously knowing that it would happen (thus the rocket debris warnings being issued prior to the launch). I count these separately because of course you're at a higher risk of getting hit when the process by which you would get hit is actively controlled in such a way that would cause the chance to be higher. In comparison, this debris strike was not intended, the battery was expected to fully burn up during reentry. The other incidents I cited were similar, they were all orbital debris that was not expected to make it back intact or hit an inhabited area.
orbital-decay 3y ago
These are Chinese launches and their decades-old issue with launch site locations. Very constrained trajectory (like with any other launchers), and stage falling areas are over populated areas. That's why you keep hearing about this each year. These areas aren't wide. ISS is in orbit, and the inclination of 51.6° means any debris can reenter at basically any point on the globe up to this latitude.
- lupusreal 3y ago
  If the CCP cared, they would have started developing flyback boosters decades ago. But they rate the value of human life rather low, so they're content to continue dropping boosters on villages.