Skywatching and stargazing in Victoria

China says there is little threat of rocket causing harm as it returns to Earth

Pentagon says it has no plans to shoot down rocket remnants expected to re-enter the atmosphere this weekend

https://www.cbc.ca/n...entry-1.6017798

Btw there’s an out of control rocket crashing down to earth again.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 May 2021 - 10:36 AM.

Estimates from US Space Force data suggest that re-entry is likely to occur any time between 2am and 4am UK time. The remnants of the giant rocket are hurtling towards Earth at speeds of 18,000mph, making predictions about where it will land extremely difficult. So far, four possible orbits for re-entry have been calculated by US Space Force - three over water and one over the land.

Potential land sites include the Southeastern US, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Peru, Ecuador Colombia, Venezuela, parts of Southern Europe, much of Northern and Central Africa, the Middle East, Southern India and Australia.

https://www.express....ch-5b-space-ont

luckily they have narrowed the area right down so now they can just easily evacuate potentially affected areas.      

sounds like everyone can take cover in Japan or Norway until it passes.  whichever is easier.  it's only coming in at 18,000mph so you have plenty of time to collect up a few of your valuables.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 May 2021 - 04:19 PM.

If Joe Biden accomplishes nothing else during his term, can he please approve a new moniker for the ridiculously childish name "Space Force"? 

They say they will be able to give two hours warning of precisely where it is going to crash.

it's great that it's just whipping around out there at 7km per second.  and it just needs to clip a bit of the atmosphere to be tipped into coming down.

U.S. Space Command estimated re-entry would occur at 0211 GMT on Sunday, plus or minus one hour, while the Center for Orbital Reentry and Debris Studies (CORDS) at Aerospace Corporation, a U.S. federally funded space-focused research and development center, updated its prediction to two hours either side of 0302 GMT with the rocket re-entering over the Pacific.

EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) said its latest prediction for the timing of the re-entry of the Long March 5B rocket body was 139 minutes either side of 0232 GMT on Sunday.

https://www.ctvnews....hours-1.5419753

for reference it's 0305 right now.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 May 2021 - 07:05 PM.

Is it too late to get my 'crash location' request in?  

^it's not currently taking requests.

VIDEO:    

Out of control China rocket live tracking Long March 5B Rocket debris

might have already happened says these guys. (twitter)

if it is still up there now its about 330 miles off of USA and heading across the atlantic to southern europe now.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 May 2021 - 07:21 PM.

We probably know more about where this landed in the Indian Ocean than we do MH370.

if it is still up there it's now about to go above land over portugal.  then spain north africa looks like.  the YouTube feed above is good.

some indications now say it probably already came down in the last sweep over the indian ocean.  space force is on it.

over algeria now if it's still up.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 May 2021 - 07:35 PM.

JP:

Chinese rocket Long March 5B crashes near Maldives

https://www.jpost.co...ds-earth-667634

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 May 2021 - 07:38 PM.

you can watch Elon on SNL online in Canada via Youtube now:

https://youtu.be/VJX9ymv_vUQ

As if the poor Maldivians don't have enough to worry about. A prominent politician was almost killed in a terror attack this week. I read that a few days ago and was like, where exactly are the Maldives and I looked it up on Google Earth and it's half a dozen tiny rings in the middle of the Indian Ocean, it's the craziest excuse for a country I've ever seen.

for a supposed world power china sure doesn't know how to make a re-entry.

https://www.theverge...g-zhurong-rover

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a new fleet of Starlink internet satellites into orbit alongside two rideshare satellites Saturday evening (May 15), before sticking a stunning landing at sea.

The veteran Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center here in Florida at 6:56 p.m. EDT (2056 GMT), marking the company's 15th launch of the year. It also marked the eighth flight for this particular Falcon 9.

The successful liftoff marked the third time SpaceX launched one of its 229-foot-tall (70 meters) workhorse Falcon 9 rockets within as many weeks, as the company works to expand its burgeoning broadband constellation. 

Approximately nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first stage returned to Earth, touching down on SpaceX's drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You," for a 8th successful landing. A camera aboard the rocket stage captured spectacular video of the entire descent back to Earth.

https://www.space.co...landing-success

three more launches are scheduled before the end of june to put another 180 satellites in space.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 May 2021 - 06:59 PM.

later this month starlink's "first shell" will likely be complete:

As of 16 May 2021, SpaceX has launched 1,677 Starlink satellites, including demo satellites Tintin A and B.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 May 2021 - 01:15 PM.