China's mistake formed a death trap in Earth's orbit: we've already seen it in Gravity

The upper stage of China's Long March 6A rocket, which had been in open space for 24 hours, has collapsed in Earth's orbit. An error by engineers of the world's second most populous nation poses a threat to the safety of astronauts on the echelons.

More than 50 pieces of debris have been found around our planet as a result of the massive explosion, Universe Space Tech reports. A similar situation was previously seen in the American-British science fiction movie Gravity.

The booster was intended to launch the first batch of Thousand Sails satellites designed to improve internet in China. The spacewalk mission was successful, but the upper stage remaining in orbit collapsed.

The exact cause of the explosion remains unknown, but experts say the incident was due to a fuel utilization error. Usually, excess fuel residue is removed from a part of the rocket, but in this case there was a malfunction.

A large amount of debris from around Earth threatens the safe stay in space of astronauts in orbital echelons below 800 kilometers. Remnants of the upper stage of China's Long March 6A rocket cross the trajectory of habitable objects.

Recall that earlier, China's state-owned Yuanxin Satellite successfully launched 18 of 14,000 internet satellites, posing a serious challenge to SpaceX's US-based Starlink project. According to experts, the latest developments operate at an altitude of 160 to 2,000 kilometers above the Earth, offering lower transmission delays and lower communication losses compared to geostationary satellites.

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