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| Former China Long March 2D Rocket Crashes And Burns In Texas Sky, US Aborts Hypersonic Missile Test |
Texas - Former Chinese Long March 2D rocket fell to Earth and caught fire as it entered the atmosphere right above the sky of Texas, United States of America (US). At about the same time, plans to test fire a US hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral were cancelled.
The former Long March 2D rocket that fell back to Earth was part of the second stage used to launch three of China's spy satellites. According to a report by the US Space Command, the second stage of the Long March 2D rocket caught fire while crossing the atmosphere over Texas on March 7, 2023.
"No debris was found on the ground at the time of reporting, but the fall of such a rocket is not without risk," the US Space Command wrote.
Astronomer and space launch activity tracker Jonathan McDowell linked the event to last year's Chinese launch. According to USNI News, a 2D Long March rocket was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on June 22, 2022.
The Long March 2D rocket successfully put three Yaogan 35 (group 02) satellites into orbit with an average altitude of about 500 kilometers above Earth. The satellite position is at an angle of 35 degrees. The first stage of the Long March 2D rocket, which is 41 meters long, has already fallen to Earth within the calculated zone.
Meanwhile, the second stage of the Long March 2D rocket successfully entered orbit and deployed the satellite. However, the upper stage of the rocket often remains in orbit until it is dragged back to Earth by increasing interaction with the atmosphere.
In this case, the rocket's 25-square-meter second stage brought large chunks of space debris back to Earth much faster than it should have. This problem of uncontrolled re-entry of rocket and satellite stages has been noted as a potential cause of loss of life and property damage, if current space exploration practices are not changed.
At about the same time, the test launch of the US hypersonic missile from Cape Canaveral was cancelled. It had earlier announced an unusual navigation warning ahead of a planned secret test launch. The US Department of Defense canceled an undisclosed missile test launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station that was scheduled for between March 2 and 6, 2023.
An airspace closure warning issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) indicates launch activity. Marco Langbroek, lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, noted that the navigation warnings drew "forking" flight paths over the north Atlantic. This suggests that the mission is not a typical orbital launch activity but more likely a hypersonic missile test.
However, when it attracted the attention of many parties, the trial plan was not carried out. The Office of the Secretary of Defense told Florida Today that as a result of a pre-flight inspection, testing was not carried out. "Delivery of hypersonic weapons remains a top priority for the Department of Defense," the Office of the US Secretary of Defense continued in a statement to Florida Today quoted from the Space page.
The characteristics of the hypersonic missile system to be tested were not disclosed, but clear hints have emerged on Twitter. The US has stepped up efforts to develop hypersonic weapons after the progress shown by Russia and China in the development of hypersonic missiles.