Rocket Engine Landed in a Guy's Living Room?

[Argylas]

Guys,

Has anyone heard anything about this? - http://gizmodo.com/part-of-a-rocket-engine-landed-in-this-guys-living-room-1727544878

Is it real or is this some media trying to create a story out of nothing? I shudder to think what its like to have an enormous rocket engine embed itself on your sofa next to you while you watch TV or something. That's what I call a dramatic entrance:)

Very Kerbal, much like. On a more serious note its good that there are no casualties...

[hugix]

Actually, this happens quite a lot in China. About half a year ago a first stage came down in a park.

Leme find a link with info on that 'incident'.

[RainDreamer]

Well...after the Tianjin explosion, I am inclined to believe something like this is entirely possible in China.

[Kryten]

Very Kerbal, much like. On a more serious note its good that there are no casualties...

The people in these areas get advanced notice of launches, they don't just drop stages on people.

[Dkmdlb]

That sometimes happens when rockets are launched over populated areas.

[Gaarst]

And this is the reason why KSC, Kourou, Baikonur and many other launch bases are located in places where there's no one to the east (ocean for KSC and Kourou, Kazakh desertlands for Baikonur)...

[NovaSilisko]

Remember China uses hypergolic propellant, which that thing probably was still quite toasty with. In some of the photos of the full first stage that came down earlier this year, you can see a vicious orange cloud of toxic death rising above it - that's nitrogen tetroxide.

The people in these areas get advanced notice of launches, they don't just drop stages on people.

"Heads up, we're about to drop a bunch of crap on your heads"?

Whether many of the people downrange are actually equipped to receive these notifications (or whether the notifications propagate from official channels to the population) is another question...

[Kryten]

Whether many of the people downrange are actually equipped to receive these notifications (or whether the notifications propagate from official channels to the population) is another question...

We know that they get these notifications, and that these people have plenty of communication infrastructure, because that's the main source for if something otherwise secret is about to go up. They're not like the nomads Baikonur drops stuff on, Gansu is pretty well developed, even if it is largely rural.

[PB666]

On the bright side at least they didn't blow it into 3000 tennis ball or larger pieces in space. I was going to say he going to get a free roof, but then realize he's prolly going to get beat to a pulp for pointing it out. Oh well, sucks to be him.

[xenomorph555]

If anyone want's to know the reason for China launching over popular areas I will explain.

Back in the 60's-80's when the launch sites were built China was in confrontation with both the US and Soviet Union. Spyplanes and fighters were regularly trespassing their airspace therefore there was a genuine concern the sites could easily be bombed. Because of this a decision was made to build the sites far inland so it would be difficult for US/SU to destroy them or spy on them.

Of course the cold war is over now so they are now building sites like Wenchang which launches over coast.

[PB666]

Uh well there is the gobi desert I don't think the sand flies would mind. Isn'T the smartest place to launch in china on Hainan island. Seriously just wait till the us AWACs passes by then launch from a bunker. Whose going to notice, its not like US doesn t already have detailed pictures once it gets into space anyway.

They prolly have intercpetd those supersecret pictures of hilltop Hollywood swimming pools that Chinese high officials desparately need land surveys of, particularly for those friday night communist party socializers.

[mrfox]

Uh well there is the gobi desert I don't think the sand flies would mind. Isn'T the smartest place to launch in china on Hainan island.

They couldn't get too close to the USSR either, as China had a falling out with them during the 70s. Hainan is exactly where they are building the Wenchang launch center now.

Edited September 1, 2015 by mrfox

[TheShadow1138]

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is actually in the Gobi Desert in Inner Mongolia and is named after the nearest city, Jiuquan, which is in Gansu Province. So it's actually fairly close to Russia and would have probably been easily reachable by Soviet bombers and/or spy planes. I would also note that the U.S. flew multiple U-2 missions over Baikonour including the one that was shot down in 1960 from Peshawar. I would imagine that the U-2 could easily have overflown Jiuquan and that the U.S. could easily have bombed the site in case of war. I could be oversimplifying here though.

[lajoswinkler]

It's China, the paper mache dragon economy/country. Shiny outside, held by sticks and cheap glue inside. It's not a free country and care to prevent things like these is very low compared to more socially developed countries.

I doubt the guy will get paid for this. In fact, if he stands up for his right to get the damage repaired, the government has its thugs to shut him up.

So yeah, don't be surprised by these things.

[Yukon0009]

It's China, the paper mache dragon economy/country. Shiny outside, held by sticks and cheap glue inside. It's not a free country and care to prevent things like these is very low compared to more socially developed countries.

I doubt the guy will get paid for this. In fact, if he stands up for his right to get the damage repaired, the government has its thugs to shut him up.

So yeah, don't be surprised by these things.

That's Mainland China for you. China has a rather horrible saftey reputation, there was that woman who died on an escalator.

[Stoney3K]

It does give "Found lying by the side of the road" a whole new meaning. I wonder if there are less developed countries that will start up their own Space Programs by dumpster diving through this mess?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I can happen indeed. Many many years ago around here, a strange piece of something fell on somebody's backyard. It turned out to be part of an Italian satellite if remember correctly. So yeah, I guess an engine, which is tougher than a probe could might as well fall on you. You have to be very unlucky (or lucky, depending on the settlement law suit).

[mrfox]

Does anyone have photos of other first stages that fall back to earth? The condition of that engine bell, and especially that rocket body in the two photos in the article seems remarkably good, considering they fell several kms from the sky. And why would the engine bell fall separately from the main rocket body?

[JetJaguar]

Well, the engine makes sense to me. I don't know how it became separated in the first place (perhaps the stage started tumbling and broke up in mid-air after separation?), but when it fell the shape of it acted like a shuttlecock, landing combustion chamber-first and with the guy's roof cushioning the impact.

In the second photo, the lower half of the stage is basically missing. I'm guessing it impacted tail-first with the lower portion crumpling and taking the worst of the impact, protecting the top half. The trees might have softened the blow somewhat as well.

[mrfox]

Soyuz spent stages on the plains of Kazakhstan. Quite a bit more damage, especially from heat.

[Kerbart]

Ironically, according to the Chinese government, one of the tasks of the satellite it launched was "disaster prevention"