{"id":163575,"date":"2025-11-05T04:05:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T04:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/163575\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T04:05:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T04:05:06","slug":"chinas-shenzhou-20-return-mission-delayed-due-to-space-debris-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/163575\/","title":{"rendered":"China&#8217;s Shenzhou-20 return mission delayed due to space debris impact"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul data-testid=\"Summary\" class=\"summary-module__summary__QjADA\">\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">Shenzhou-20 spacecraft hit by small debris, delaying return to Earth<\/li>\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">First time Shenzhou mission has been delayed by space debris<\/li>\n<li data-testid=\"Body\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf summary-module__point__UgXPz\">Increases in satellite, spacecraft launches causing rapid growth of space junk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>BEIJING, Nov 5 (Reuters) &#8211; China&#8217;s <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/media-telecom\/china-launches-shenzhou-20-mission-chinese-space-station-state-media-reports-2025-04-24\/\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft<\/a> has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/lifestyle\/science\/qa-what-is-space-debris-how-dangerous-is-it-2021-11-16\/\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">space debris<\/a>, the country&#8217;s human spaceflight agency said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>An impact analysis and risk assessment are underway, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement, without providing any new schedule for the return mission, which was originally set to land in northern China on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"promo-box\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__promo-box__hVl8h\"> Sign up  <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/media-telecom\/chinas-shenzhou-20-return-mission-delayed-due-space-debris-impact-2025-11-05\/undefined?location=article-paragraph&amp;redirectUrl=%2Fbusiness%2Fmedia-telecom%2Fchinas-shenzhou-20-return-mission-delayed-due-space-debris-impact-2025-11-05%2F\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The delay highlights the danger to space travel posed by increasing amounts of space debris. The debris, also called space junk, consists of discarded launch vehicles or parts of a spacecraft that float around in space hundreds of miles above the Earth, risking collisions with countries&#8217; active space assets.<\/p>\n<p>The Shenzhou programme takes Chinese astronauts to and from China&#8217;s space station, Tiangong, for six-month stays where they perform a variety of tasks, including repairing damage to the station caused by debris impact.<\/p>\n<p>The Shenzhou-19 crew&#8217;s <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/science\/chinas-shenzhou-19-crewed-spacecraft-lands-back-countrys-north-2025-04-30\/\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">return mission in April<\/a> was delayed by one day due to weather conditions at the landing site. But this is the first time that a return mission has been delayed by space debris.SPACE JUNK A GROWING HEADACHEThe rapid increase in space junk in recent years has led to <a data-testid=\"Link\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/science\/global-push-cooperation-space-traffic-crowds-earth-orbit-2024-12-02\/\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__inherit-color__PhuPF text-module__inherit-font__1P1hv text-module__inherit-size__EyiQW link-module__link__INqxZ link-module__underline_default__-okuC\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">growing calls for cooperation<\/a> on managing space traffic.<\/p>\n<p>At a forum last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Chinese and Arab countries to jointly build a &#8220;space debris observation centre&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>A United Nations panel on space traffic coordination said last year that urgent action was necessary, calling for a shared database of orbital objects as well as an international framework to track and manage them.<\/p>\n<p>China in 2021 complained to the UN that Tiangong had to perform two emergency avoidance manoeuvres to avoid fragments produced by Starlink satellites, owned by Elon Musk&#8217;s SpaceX, which predominate in the Earth&#8217;s lower orbital paths.<\/p>\n<p>Beijing and Washington have for years traded accusations of debris-creating behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A certain superpower, being the first country to conduct anti-satellite weapon tests in outer space, has carried out more such tests and created more space debris than any other country,&#8221; China&#8217;s permanent mission to the UN wrote in a 2022 document, referring to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. called a Chinese anti-satellite missile test in 2007 &#8220;irresponsible&#8221; after it destroyed a satellite in polar orbit and created a massive debris field.<\/p>\n<p>China has invested in technologies that could be used to reduce the risk of a space collision caused by debris.<\/p>\n<p>This includes laser monitoring technology and deorbiting &#8220;sails&#8221;, which once unfolded can cause the attached spacecraft to speed up its descent into the Earth&#8217;s atmosphere, causing it to burn up without leaving space debris.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"SignOff\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__extra_small__8Buss body-module__full_width__kCIGb body-module__extra_small_body__Bfz20 sign-off-module__text__LQAMP\">Reporting by Eduardo Baptista; Additional reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Christian Schmollinger<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"Body\" dir=\"ltr\" class=\"text-module__text__0GDob text-module__dark-grey__UFC18 text-module__regular__qJJtA text-module__small__sph8i body-module__base__o--Cl body-module__small_body__gOmDf article-body-module__element__5eCce article-body-module__trust-badge__5mS3f\">Our Standards: <a data-testid=\"Link\" 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by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[82495,82496,2786,82703,53515,82995,82545,82535,82549,82776,82553,82536,83787,82969,82777,82547,82539,82557,82537,82540,82554,82552,85720,82551,85719,83113,82702,18,82578,45748,19,82504,82505,17,82565,83788,82970,82508,17588,82512,133,83126,451,82513,753,82999,30150,84334],"class_list":{"0":"post-163575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-aer","9":"tag-aero","10":"tag-asia","11":"tag-asxpac","12":"tag-cn","13":"tag-coms","14":"tag-destafa","15":"tag-destcsa","16":"tag-destdnp","17":"tag-destg","18":"tag-destgns","19":"tag-destlby","20":"tag-destousscm","21":"tag-destouswdm","22":"tag-destpge","23":"tag-destpsc","24":"tag-destrast","25":"tag-destrbn","26":"tag-destreulb","27":"tag-destrnp","28":"tag-destrws","29":"tag-destrwsa","30":"tag-destseatp","31":"tag-destucdptest","32":"tag-destz","33":"tag-dli","34":"tag-easia","35":"tag-eire","36":"tag-emrg","37":"tag-gen","38":"tag-ie","39":"tag-indg","40":"tag-inds","41":"tag-ireland","42":"tag-mtpix","43":"tag-packageus-science","44":"tag-packageworld-news","45":"tag-pol","46":"tag-satcom","47":"tag-sci","48":"tag-science","49":"tag-soci","50":"tag-space","51":"tag-spex","52":"tag-tech","53":"tag-teeq","54":"tag-tmt","55":"tag-topicworld-china-slug"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation 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