Chinese rocket disintegrates over the Caribbean

Watch a Chinese rocket disintegrate over the Caribbean in multiple angles from meteor cameras in Puerto Rico. Video via Sociedad de Astronomía del Caribe.

Chinese rocket disintegrates over the Caribbean

Meteor cameras operated by the Sociedad de Astronomía del Caribe (Astronomical Society of the Caribbean) captured multiple angles of a Chinese rocket disintegrating over Puerto Rico around 11:24 p.m. AST on December 19, 2024 (3:24 UTC on December 20).

Reentry predictions of space debris indicate it was a CZ-4B rocket launched from Xichang Space Center, China, on August 16, 2024.

After delivering the Yaogan-43 satellites to space, the 145-foot-long and 11-foot-wide (44 by 3.3 meter) rocket body remained in Earth orbit for four months. The rocket body was gradually losing height. Eventually, atmospheric drag caused it to disintegrate as it reached an altitude of around 70 miles (113 km) over Puerto Rico.

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How to tell a meteor from space debris

Watching the video, some might at first think they’re seeing a meteor. But there are two main characteristics that will let you know it’s space debris:

1. Space debris appears as an extremely slow trail of light. It sometimes lasts one or two minutes rather than the few seconds we see with a natural meteor. (Whether that’s a space rock or just a fragment.) The object appears so slow that it will let some people use their camera phone to take pictures or video of the event.
2. Space debris shows a noticeable fragmentation. You’ll see small objects separating from the main object, with some pieces in front or on the sides, plus other fragments falling behind.

Debris reentry happens regularly

Space junk reenters Earth’s atmosphere regularly, just not always at nighttime or over populated locations with cameras. See a list of predicted reentries here. Sometimes the debris might be a spent rocket. Or sometimes it’s a defunct satellite. And in one instance, it was 40 satellites.

On February 7, 2022, a group of 40 just-launched Starlink satellites reentered the atmosphere. A geomagnetic storm caused by the sun’s activity prevented the satellites from reaching their intended orbit. Geomagnetic storms like that in 2022 cause the atmosphere to warm, which affects atmospheric density. And the result is increased drag on satellites. Then, in time, the low-altitude satellites reenter the Earth’s atmosphere. That’s why launches can sometimes be delayed due to activity sent from the sun.

Bottom line: On December 19, 2024, a Chinese rocket disintegrated over the Caribbean. Meteor cameras on Puerto Rico captured multiple views of the event.