The EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) has monitored the re-entry of large space object CZ-5B (2022-085B), the core stage of the rocket that launched Wentian – the second module of the Chinese large modular space station – on 24 July 2022. The EU SST network of sensors observed the object closely, and its radars narrowed down its re-entry window to 30 July.
Latest update: 2022-07-30 21:50 UTC+2
Based on EU SST analysis and external information, EU SST confirms that object CZ-5B decayed on 2022-07-30 16:45 UTC ±15 minutes.
EU SST contributing sensors confirmed that the object was tumbling. The below figure shows the Velocity Time Intensity (VTI) of the object during the pass observed by the MFDR radar, with a tumbling speed of 3.3 seconds per revolution, which suggested a fairly fast rotation. Due to its inclination (41.47 degrees), the object could re-enter within the latitude band ±41.47 deg. These predictions however came with uncertainties as the object was uncontrolled, and a better estimation was only possible a few hours before the actual re-entry.