Another Long March 6 upper stage breaks apart after launch, spreading space junk
For what appears to be the fifth time in the past four years, the upper stage of a Chinese Long March 6 rocket has broken up after the deployment of its payload, spreading a cloud of space junk in low Earth orbit that other satellite operators now have to avoid at least for the next few years until that junk falls back to Earth.
From previous posts here as well as news stories today, it appears this happened in 2022, and then three times in 2024.
In 2025 China had appeared to modify the Long March 6 to prevent further such break-ups, but this new event tells us either that change didn’t work, or China hadn’t really done anything at all.
Either way, this track record once again illustrates China’s arrogant attitude towards others. It would be quite easy to provide the upper stage the capability to fire its engines to de-orbit it in a planned manner, immediately after launch. SpaceX and others do this routinely.
Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.
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” . . . this track record once again illustrates China’s arrogant attitude towards others.”
No surprise, there. The Han Chinese have been operating this way for millenia. I noted several years ago that the Chinese don’t bother to release material in English. The Chinese leadership even demonstrates that arrogance to their own people. Given that everyone and their second cousin wants in on the New Frontier; I wonder that there hasn’t been agitation in the UN about this blatant environmental pollution. It’s not really about political alliance, when your national space assets are trashed by someone else’s junk.
I am not so sure they have the ability to relight their first stage engines So once that thing is used up and free its on its own.
Adding new engines add weight and modifying their present engines is just not something they care about.
This must be that multipolar resistance to Yankee hegemony and imperialism I keep hearing about.
And they want nukes atop these things for asteroid defense
https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/space.0504
Blair wrote: “””I wonder that there hasn’t been agitation in the UN about this blatant environmental pollution.”””
Unless the UN could find some way to blame it on America, they could care less.
I still dream about moving the UN to that Middle East garden spot – The Gaza Strip. No limousines, no extravagance. Just some tents with a beautiful view of the Mediterranean. Let’s see who actually shows up.
And that way they could also blame it on Israel
One is reminded more than a bit of Ralphie’s hillbilly neighbors in A Christmas Story. The PRC are modern-day nation-state-level Bumpuses.