RE: The Long March 5B Is Coming!
May 7, 2021 at 12:12 pm
(This post was last modified: May 7, 2021 at 12:15 pm by Anomalocaris.)
actually, many previous launches that injected a large rocket stage that would not likely burn up completely during reentry into orbit did so without provision to ensure controlled re-entry to avoid populated areas. So the chinese are really doing nothing different.
The main difference in behavior is this Chinese rocket was inserted into an orbit that would see it re-enter very soon after completing its mission. Other lunches that injected a potentially dangerous upper stage into orbit tended to leave the discarded stage in an orbit that takes some months or years to decay. but that is neither here nor there in terms of the danger created by the practice..
What is different is this rocket was used to launch a chinese space station. A manned space station is an impressive achievement for a country that was firmly in the third world a mere 20 or so years ago. So it is something they can thump their own chest over. But Chinese technological progress is seen as threatening to the west, and to combat this threat it is necessary to make large segment of the western world feel threatened rather than impressed.
the virtually nonexistent danger, when played up so soon after the successful launch amongst people who are not accustomed to evaluate danger in light of its probability of occurance, is just the right thing to dampen the impression the successful launch of a manned space station would have made, and magnify the fear and loathing for the people who launched it.
The main difference in behavior is this Chinese rocket was inserted into an orbit that would see it re-enter very soon after completing its mission. Other lunches that injected a potentially dangerous upper stage into orbit tended to leave the discarded stage in an orbit that takes some months or years to decay. but that is neither here nor there in terms of the danger created by the practice..
What is different is this rocket was used to launch a chinese space station. A manned space station is an impressive achievement for a country that was firmly in the third world a mere 20 or so years ago. So it is something they can thump their own chest over. But Chinese technological progress is seen as threatening to the west, and to combat this threat it is necessary to make large segment of the western world feel threatened rather than impressed.
the virtually nonexistent danger, when played up so soon after the successful launch amongst people who are not accustomed to evaluate danger in light of its probability of occurance, is just the right thing to dampen the impression the successful launch of a manned space station would have made, and magnify the fear and loathing for the people who launched it.
