A huge metal ring, six cylindrical objects and a metallic sphere that were found in different parts of Chandrapur, Wardha and Gadchiroli districts of Vidarbha in the month of April last year, were parts of Long March 3V satellite launch vehicle (SLV) of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. According to Suresh Chopne, Member, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change and President, Sky Watch Group, “At first sight, we thought it was the space debris of Starlink 1831 of China. But, NASA recently confirmed that it was the debris of China’s Long March SLV which had landed in India.”

While interacting with ‘The Hitavada’ on Wednesday, Chopne said, “Last year, there were three Chinese SLVs which landed on the earth and the Long March was landed in Vidarbha. It was supposed to land on Bay of Bengal but unfortunately it crash landed on some parts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha.” Normally the landing of space debris takes place in an ocean. Last year’s incident was a first of its kind, which raised the possibility of threat to human and property loss, said Chopne. in a village in Sindewahi by some villagers later. The objects were parts of the SLV that fell down in the earth atmosphere after launching the third stage of the rocket. Generally, the remains fall down on the earth atmosphere and vaporise in high temperature due to friction with air molecules.