The extra equipment also adds mass, and when it comes to trying to escape the crushing pull of gravity and putting precious cargo into space, every pound counts. Muelhaupt noted, however, that equipping a rocket to make such a maneuver is far from trivial. US rocket company SpaceX even manages to guide its first-stage rocket boosters - the largest, bottommost portion of a rocket that gives the initial thrust at liftoff - back to a controlled, pinpoint landing so they can be refurbished and used again.

Some companies ensure rockets are steered back toward the ocean. Most rockets flying today are built with a means to ensure that rocket boosters are safely discarded.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, world's most powerful rocket, launches after three-year hiatus REUTERS/Steve Nesius Steve Nesius/Reuters Space Force at Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., November 1, 2022. This specific rocket booster was used on an October 31 mission that carried another piece of China’s new space station, called Tiangong, to orbit.Ī SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches on its mission with a classified payload for the U.S. Muelhaupt noted that after one of the boosters crash-landed in 2022, debris was found in Malaysia and the Philippines. That’s how much debris can make it back into the atmosphere and pose a threat, Muelhaupt said.Ī Long March 5B rocket has yet to pose a threat to people. Much of the hardware will burn up during the fiery reentry process as the 22-metric-ton rocket plunges back into Earth’s thick atmosphere, but about 10% to 40% is expected to survive. The rocket booster is 108 feet (33 meters) end to end, noted Ted Muelhaupt, a space traffic expert and Aerospace Corporation consultant. But we absolutely - with our population that we have driving around on the roads today - we must have stoplights and traffic signs and rules.” “There’s really not much need to have rules or stoplights and so on. “Imagine the roads today are completely empty,” she continued. Lael Woods, a space traffic management expert with the Space Safety Institute, during a news conference hosted by The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research center. But it’s something that must be done,” said Dr. “I want to point out that the lower the acceptable risk is, the more expensive it is to design to that risk. That fact has repeatedly stirred up controversy and been criticized by space policy experts who say it poses an unnecessary risk. This hazardous situation marked the fourth uncontrolled reentry for a Long March 5B rocket since China’s space agency started flying it two years ago, as the vehicle was designed without the necessary equipment to steer itself to a safe landing. Remnants of China's uncontrolled rocket reentered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, US Space Command says

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