Moments before the residents of Lone Khin Village in Kachin State were jolted awake by a loud crash and the smell of smoke, China launched a Long March 11 (CZ-11) rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on a south-bound trajectory, depositing five new satellites into orbit.
People living near the crash site initially thought the area was under attack, but they soon discovered a large metal cylinder lying in a shallow crater in a nearby jade mine.
Ko Maung Myo, a local resident who took several photos of the object shortly after it fell to earth reported its dimensions as 12 feet long and five feet in diameter. Photos of the object show that the diameter is different on each end of the cylinder. Witnesses have theorized that the object is an engine from an aircraft, though experts make a convincing argument otherwise.
Dr Marco Longbroek, a self-described Stone Age archaeologist, meteoriticist, avid satellite tracker, meteor observer and asteroid discoverer observes on his blog that the dimensions of the mysterious object match those of parts of the Chinese CZ-11 rocket launched the same day.
He writes (edited for clarity):
Size and shape conform to (what I assume is) the second stage of the CZ-11 (edit: might in fact be the third stage), which is about 4 meters long and about 2 meters in diameter at one side, tapering to about 1.4 meters in diameter at the other side. A drawing of the rocket’s elements is here and another, perhaps more accurate, rendering is here (the drawings differ somewhat, hence my confusion on whether this is the second or third stage. From the second rendering, it looks to be the third rather than the second stage).
Furthermore, Dr Longbroek points out that Kachin State’s Hpakant Township, where the object fell, lies along the Chinese satellite’s launch trajectory.
American nuclear non-proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis has identified Chinese CNTV footage of the November 10 launch that shows various parts of the CZ-11 rocket. The piece that fell over Myanmar can be seen from 0:35 in the video above.
It appears that the Chinese satellites launched along with this stray rocket part will help with spacecraft navigation. Here’s a more jargon-drenched explanation, if you want to feel dumb.
All photos in this article were supplied by SATTRACKCAM LEIDEN (B)LOG.
