A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches a flock of Starlink satellites on Sept. 4, 2022. The satellites at the moment are threatened by the particles from a Long March 6A rocket. Credit – AFP by way of Getty Images

China has made few pals these days with the serial, uncontrolled reentries of the spent first levels of its Long March 5B spacecraft, which have posed potential threats to populations on the bottom. Now, because the South China Morning Post reports, a Chinese rocket has created yet one more mess—this time in orbit 500 km (310 mi.) above Earth, at an altitude that would imperil SpaceX’s Starlink satellite tv for pc constellation.

At a media briefing on Monday in Beijing, a overseas ministry spokeswoman acknowledged that the primary stage of a Chinese Long March 6A rocket had damaged up in orbit after delivering an ocean remark satellite tv for pc to area. The first stage sometimes reenters the ambiance and burns up on its manner down. Preparatory to reentry, the stage dumps its unused gasoline, and a potential explosion throughout that train is believed to have led to the break-up. It can be potential that the stage disintegrated when it collided with one other piece of area particles.

Whatever the trigger, the mishap spells hassle. One scientist from the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy reported observing greater than 40 fragments “tumbling fast, giving very distinct flash patterns.”

Read extra: China Sends Yet Another Rocket Stage Hurtling Uncontrollably Toward Earth

The incident has precipitated some hypothesis that the break-up was deliberate, since China is on-record objecting to the Starlink constellation, claiming that it might threaten the nation’s nationwide safety—a fear that has solely grown because the constellation has aided Ukraine in its conflict with Russia by offering the Ukrainian navy with broadband service.

But there may be additionally good cause China wouldn’t have an incentive to engineer such an incident: China’s Tiangong area station is circling the Earth in a considerably decrease orbit, and may very well be within the path of the particles because it descends.

“There are three Chinese astronauts up there,” one Beijing-based area scientist, who requested that his identify be withheld because of the sensitivity of the difficulty, informed the Morning Post. “The chance that [the debris] will hit the space station is low, but I don’t think anyone would be willing to add to the risk.”