June 25th 2024.
On Saturday, videos on Chinese social media and sent to CNN by a local witness showed suspected debris from a Chinese rocket falling to the ground over a village in southwest China. The footage captured the dramatic scene of bright yellow smoke trailing behind the debris, causing villagers to run in fear. This event occurred shortly after a Long March 2C carrier rocket launched at 3pm local time from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province.
The rocket successfully sent the Space Variable Objects Monitor, a powerful satellite developed by China and France, into orbit. This satellite is designed to study gamma-ray bursts, the farthest explosions of stars. As China continues to ramp up its space missions, with the goal of establishing itself as a dominant space power, this launch was declared a "complete success" by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the state-owned contractor responsible for developing the Long March 2C rocket.
CNN reached out to both the CASC and the State Council Information Office for comment, but has not received a response yet. Meanwhile, a video posted on Kuaishou, a Chinese short-video site, showed a cylindrical piece of debris falling over a rural village and crashing next to a hill, with the telltale yellow smoke billowing from one end. After geolocating the video, CNN confirmed that it was filmed in Guizhou province, which borders Sichuan to the southeast.
Other videos circulating on Chinese social media platforms also showed different angles of the falling debris. In one of these videos, villagers, including children, were seen running away while looking back at the orange trail in the sky. Some even covered their ears in anticipation of the crash. By Monday afternoon, some of these videos had been taken down. Witnesses who saw the debris crash into the ground reported hearing a loud explosion.
An eyewitness told CNN that they saw the rocket fall with their own eyes and described a pungent smell and the sound of an explosion. A government notice, which was later deleted and reposted by a local villager, stated that a "rocket debris recovery mission" would take place on Saturday from 2.45pm to 3.15pm in Xinba Town, near Xianqiao village. Residents were asked to leave their homes and move to more open areas to observe the sky, as a safety precaution.
The notice also warned residents to stay away from the debris, as it could potentially release toxic gas and cause explosions. Taking photos or videos of the debris and sharing them online was strictly prohibited. While there were no immediate reports of injuries from local authorities, rocket expert Markus Schiller explained that the debris was likely from the first-stage booster of the Long March 2C rocket. This booster uses a toxic and carcinogenic combination of nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, which creates the orange smoke trails seen in the videos.
According to Schiller, incidents like this are common in China due to the location of its inland launch sites. He explained that most rockets are launched in an easterly direction in order to take advantage of the Earth's rotation, but this often means that villages are in the path of the falling debris. In contrast, NASA and the European Space Agency typically launch their rockets from coastal locations toward the ocean.
Schiller also noted that Western space agencies have largely phased out the use of highly toxic liquid propellants in their civilian space programs, which China and Russia still use. This means that incidents like this are likely to continue happening for years to come. China has faced criticism in the past for its handling of debris from out-of-control rocket boosters when they reenter the Earth's atmosphere. In 2021, NASA criticized China for not meeting responsible standards after debris from the Long March 5B rocket landed in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives.
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