Puerto Rico

A Chinese rocket disintegrated over Puerto Rico at around 11:24 pm AST on December 19, 2024 (8:54 am IST Dec 20). The event was caught by meteor cameras operated by the Sociedad de Astronomía del Caribe (Astronomical Society of the Caribbean). The rocket that came apart was launched in August this year, EarthSky reported.

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Experts working to understand more about the debris created by the disintegration said it was a CZ-4B rocket launched from Xichang Space Center, China, on August 16. 

The 145-foot-long and 11-foot-wide rocket body delivered the Yaogan-43 satellites to space and had been orbiting Earth for four months.

It had lost height during this time and on Dec 19, it was dragged down due to an atmospheric phenomenon which led it to disintegrate at an altitude of around 113 km over Puerto Rico.

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The video captured over the Caribbean from multiple angles shows a streak of light in the sky which at first glance might appear to be a meteor.

However, there are a few ways a space debris falling down to Earth is different from a meteor or an asteroid.

Also Read: The Moon may be much older than we thought, new study suggests

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Space debris or meteor strike? How to know?

A natural space rock falls quickly, while the rocket debris makes an extremely slow reentry. The trail of light is quite stark as well and lasts for much longer.

It can extend for up to two minutes while a meteor or an asteroid strike is just a few seconds long. 

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As space debris falls down, the main body starts breaking apart, creating noticeable fragmentation.

Smaller objects start separating from the main object and can be seen drifting either to the front or on the sides. Several pieces also fall behind the main body.

A rocket body or a satellite crashing back onto Earth is not a rare occurrence.

It happens regularly but mostly over places where people don't reside, or lack cameras to capture them. 

Most of the space debris is either a spent rocket or a defunct satellite.

On February 7, 2022, a group of 40 Starlink satellites re-entered the atmosphere after a failed launch.

All of them had just been launched but faced the wrath of a major solar storm and could not reach the intended orbit.

Geomagnetic storms have quite a pull on satellites.

As the atmosphere warms up, atmospheric density is affected, resulting in increased drag on satellites.

Satellites in low altitudes re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere in this scenario.