Case · C-099
The plume of May 8, 2024 seen from five countries: a Chinese rocket
Castelar (Buenos Aires) and locations in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay · Argentina · May 8, 2024
In flight Civilian witnesses Video
Explained
- What happened
- On the evening of May 8, 2024, a witness in Castelar, in Buenos Aires Province, filmed a plume-shaped object rising in the sky and followed it for about 40 minutes; the same phenomenon was seen from various Argentine provinces and from locations in Uruguay (Paysandú), Chile (Valparaíso), Bolivia and Paraguay, with wide media coverage. The Centro de Identificación Aeroespacial of the Argentine Air Force linked it to the launch of a Chinese launch vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, which took place at 22:43 Argentine time, and concluded that it was the trail of the ascending stage.
- Proposed explanation
- According to the CIAE, the ascent trajectory reconstructed with ephemerides coincides with the sector of sky filmed: the phenomenon was the trail of combustion gases from the Chinese Long March 3B/E rocket, launched 47 minutes earlier from Xichang with the Smart SkyNet 1-01 satellite.
- Official investigation
- Fuerza Aérea Argentina – Centro de Identificación Aeroespacial (CIAE)
- Words of the document
plenamente compatible con la estela de gases de combustión del vector portador
Official documents
- Informe anual CIAE 2024 – Caso Castelar (08/5/2024) · Fuerza Aérea Argentina – CIAE · 2024
Sources
- Fuerza Aérea Argentina, Informe anual CIAE 2024 (primary source)
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