Saturday, 30 July 2022

Heads Up ( 小心 Xiǎoxīn)

If you live in the U.S., India, Australia, Africa, Brazil or Southeast Asia then you may want to wear a hard hat this weekend because you are in line to be a lucky recipient of a 25 ton Rocket courtesy of the Chinese Space Program.
Because of the way the Chinese deal with returning Space hardware, as in they don't and just let it go up and come down again, this is the third time that the China National Space Administration rocket has shouted 'heads up', the first time some people in the Ivory Coast woke up to find bits of Rocket in their gardens and last time it dropped into the Indian Ocean.
According to The Aerospace Corporation, the odds of any debris harming someone range is 1 in 10 trillion which puts it in the same class as being hit by lightening while meeting an alien bringing Elvis back to Earth.
The American Space Authority have hit out at China for allowing their rockets to fall back to Earth and potentially cause damage to which the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs hit back by asking if anyone was seriously hurt when the chunk of falling SpaceX rocket smashed into a farm in Washington state (nobody was but they have a lovely rocket shaped dent in the ground on their property).
According to Article VII of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, any country that sends an object into space is internationally liable for the damage it may cause to another party when it comes crashing back to Earth so if you hear a crash in your kitchen and find a bit of space rocket with Chinese writing on the side sitting on your dining table then you may want to look up the telephone number for the Chinese Embassy who will have to get out the chequebook.

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