Emily Chan
On August 6, a Chinese rocket launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center to deliver the first 18 satellites in orbit for Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology’s Qianfan (Thousand Sails) broadband network.
The megaconstellation of satellites will eventually include 1,296 satellites, and there are plans to host up to 14,000 spacecraft.
The satellites were successfully delivered to low Earth orbit at an altitude of approximately 500 miles. But according to the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM), the rocket broke apart shortly after, creating a cloud of debris consisting of hundreds of pieces around our planet.
“USSPACECOM can confirm the breakup of a Long March 6A rocket launched on Aug. 6, 2024, resulting in over 300 pieces of trackable debris in low Earth orbit,” said the organization in a statement on August 8.
“USSPACECOM has observed no immediate threats and continues to conduct routine conjunction assessments to support the safety and sustainability of the space domain.”
When the incident first occurred, Slingshot Aerospace’s Global Sensor Network was tracking more than 50 pieces of debris. Slingshot Aerospace is a company based in California that is dedicated to making space safe and sustainable.
Then, the amount of tracked debris changed, with the U.S. Space Command saying they were tracking over 300 pieces.
Now, tracking organization LeoLabs has announced that there are at least 700 debris fragments from the rocket breakup event.
Trackable debris generally refers to any object that is at least four inches in diameter. Many of the shards from the new debris cloud are too small to monitor.
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