USNI News by Sam LaGrone 3/9/2023
The second stage of a Chinese rocket that delivered a trio of military surveillance satellites in June disintegrated over Texas on Wednesday, USNI News has learned.
The four-ton component of a Chang Zheng 2D ‘Long March’ rocket punched through the atmosphere on Wednesday over Texas at 17,000 miles per hour and disintegrated, two defense officials confirmed to USNI News on Thursday.
“U.S. Space Command can confirm the People’s Republic of China CZ-2D Rocket Body, SCC# 52910, reentered the Earth’s atmosphere over the southern region of North America at approximately 8:30 pm [Mountain Time] on March 7, 2023,” reads a statement from SPACECOM following an earlier version of this post.
“This was an uncontrolled reentry, meaning it was not steered but rather its orbit decayed and lowered naturally. This type of behavior reinforces the need for better international norms regarding high-risk uncontrolled reentries.”
Based on the NORAD tracking data, the stage belonged to a mission that delivered three military electronic signals surveillance satellites that were believed to be targeted over the South China Sea, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told USNI News Thursday.
According to the track, the rocket section entered the atmosphere over West Texas near Marathon before heading on a northeast track between Abilene and Austin.
More:
https://news.usni.org/2023/03/09/chinese-rocket-that-delivered-military-spy-satellites-breaks-up-over-texas
