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As expected looking at Chinese sites people are all livid that NASA didn’t issue a statement when CSS went into orbit, but now does for its rocket stage. No Apollo-Soyuz redux I guess.
I was actually surprised that AFAIK @roscosmos/ @Rogozin didn’t either - only @esaspaceflight. https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1391246057028325376">https://twitter.com/thesheetz...
I was actually surprised that AFAIK @roscosmos/ @Rogozin didn’t either - only @esaspaceflight. https://twitter.com/thesheetztweetz/status/1391246057028325376">https://twitter.com/thesheetz...
...it& #39;s a headache to read Chinese sites reporting on this right now as it& #39;s almost universal consent that this is yet another "Western opinion attack on China" incident when the US et al. also drop rocket stages overhead. Which there might be a tiny bit of truth but...
...just an example, on the one Chinese spaceflight forum I frequent there are lots of names being mocked for (to quote a usual PRC official statement) "spilling dirty water", from Bill Nelson, @planet4589, @AJ_FI to "the whole @NASASpaceflight community". (different members) 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😬" title="Grimasse schneidendes Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Grimasse schneidendes Gesicht">
(and of course this stance is actually supported officially, like today& #39;s opinion from PRC& #39;s Global Times, so uh....)
Back on the implication for future LM-5B launches, I& #39;ve read genuine discussions there and it looks like there& #39;s no easy way to mitigate this alas. This one& #39;s as good as it could be but I& #39;m not sure the S/Cs have that extra capability. https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1391620838240227330">https://twitter.com/planet458...
Dropping the core stage in the STS ET way would have it burning up over S Europe-Middle East. Going w/ a trim stage a la Ariane 5 ES might cause the core stage to drop over Australia (unless the burn time can be very fine controlled).
As for active de-orbit using RCS/extra SRMs the initial track of 42 deg. from Wenchang would require coasting for 1-3 hours before hitting large piece of ocean; I& #39;m not sure the Chinese have that long coasting ability for such a large stage.
So it looks like this problem will persist for at least another 3 times (2 CSS modules + its tendered all-sky survey telescope). Maybe by then a new variant of their next-generation crew LV can replace it, but its 2nd stage is just as large so... https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😶" title="Mundloses Gesicht" aria-label="Emoji: Mundloses Gesicht">
