MCLC: rocket debris

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: rocket debris
***********************************************************

Source: Sinosphere Blog, NYT (12/4/13):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/debris-from-chinese-space-la
unch-damages-structures-in-rural-county/

Suining County, Where What Goes Up Often Comes Down
By AUSTIN RAMZY 

China’s space program is a subject of pride and excitement around the
country. In Suining County, it’s cause for an added thrill, if an anxious
one. Debris from rockets launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center
often crashes down in that rural area of southern Hunan Province.

Early Monday, minutes after China launched a rocket carrying the country’s
first lunar rover, a farmer named Yang Weihan heard a rumbling sound and
then a huge crash. He grabbed a flashlight and walked to his barn, where
he found an open door and a massive hole in the roof, he told
<http://www.xxcb.cn/event/hunan/2013-12-03/8899737.html> the Hunan-based
Xiaoxiang Morning Post. Photos showed what appeared to be part of the tail
of the Long March 3B rocket used to propel the Chang’e-3 craft, lying amid
broken boards and other wreckage.

Mr. Yang received 10,800 renminbi, about $1,800, from the government for
damage to his home and barn, the newspaper reported. In addition, a
resident of a nearby village received 5,200 renminbi for damage to his
eaves from a piece of the rocket.

Suining County, which is more than 500 miles east of the launch center in
Sichuan Province, has had rocket parts rain on it before. In 2007, the
launch of a Nigerian telecommunications satellite was followed by falling
debris, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Residents had been
evacuated, and no one was reported to have been injured. In 2008, scraps
from the launch of a Venezuelan telecommunications satellite caused damage
to a house in Suining County, and last year debris took out an electrical
tower <http://www.360doc.com/content/12/0529/22/6748870_214614483.shtml>.
Parts of southern Guizhou Province have also been hit with fragments, and
debris from this week’s launch also landed farther east, in Jiangxi
Province.

Before Monday’s launch, the local authorities evacuated more than 160,000
people from areas where debris might fall, reported
<http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/829644.shtml#.Up764OJ36Uq> the Global
Times, a newspaper run by China’s Communist Party. No one was injured this
time, but in two earlier instances, people were electrocuted by power
lines severed by rocket debris, the newspaper said.

China’s main launch sites are situated in relatively unpopulated areas,
and the local authorities evacuate residents in areas where debris is
expected to land. A new launch center on the southeastern island of
Hainan, which will be used for heavier payloads, including a planned space
station, will reduce some concerns, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post said.
Debris from rockets launched there will ostensibly fall into the South
China Sea.