The U.S. Air Force informs of the destruction of a Chinese satellite. (Photo credit: Screenshot)
The U.S. Air Force revealed in an official tweet on March 23 that a Chinese satellite launched by a Long March rocket the year before was confirmed destroyed on March 18 this year, and has now split into 21 pieces for unknown reasons.
The U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron (SPCS) said in the tweet that it was confirmed that at 7:41 p.m. on March 18, the “China Cloud Sea No. 02” satellite was destroyed and disintegrated into 21 pieces scattered in near-Earth orbit, and that the U.S. military is continuing to track the movement of the debris. Related analysis work is also still in progress.
According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center launched the Long March 2D carrier rocket at 8:54 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2019, to lift off the “Yunhai-102” satellite, which officials said at the Time had successfully entered its intended orbit and the mission was a complete success.
Officials said the satellite was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Group (CAST) Eight Academy, and its main role is to detect the atmosphere and ocean environment, as well as monitor the space environment, disaster prevention and mitigation purposes, the satellite launch mission was the 313th flight of the Long March series of launch vehicles at the time.
In early August 2020, Chinese Communist Party officials again claimed that “the Long March 2d launch vehicle has won all 50 launches in 30 years.”
But in fact, records show that on Dec. 28, 2016, when the Long March 2d launch vehicle launched the Gaojing-1 01/02 satellites from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, the two main satellites failed to enter their scheduled orbits and the launch failed, and the wreckage of the rocket crashed into Henan Province.
Other launch vehicles in the Long March series have also failed several times in the past year. For example, from March to June 2020, the first flight of Long March 7 modified medium launch vehicle failed, Long March 3B launch vehicle launched Indonesian PALAPA-N1 satellite exploded 50 seconds after liftoff, Long March 5B launch vehicle returned from orbit, Long March 3B launch vehicle had technical problems before launch, and so on.
In the calculation, “Yunhai No. 02” launched less than two years, so it is expected that it should not be scrapped on its own. The net rumor is that the satellite was destroyed, but there are views that this is unlikely, because that will not just produce 21 debris, so the satellite destruction is likely to be the cause of space debris impact.
Once the news came out, netizens debated that “cowhide to the sky, satellite to the ground” “foretells the near future of the Chinese Communist state.”
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