CNN —One of China’s Long March 6A rockets has broken apart in low-Earth orbit and created a debris cloud consisting of hundreds of pieces, according to multiple space debris-tracking entities. And the reason for the rocket breakup remains unknown. Everything in low-Earth orbit travels at 17,500 miles per hour, Crassidis said. It’s the second time one of these rocket bodies has experienced a significant breakup event in low-Earth orbit, according to Victoria Heath, associate director of marketing and communications for LeoLabs. “Events like this highlight the importance of adherence to existing space debris mitigation guidelines to reduce the creation of new space debris and underscore the need for robust space domain awareness capabilities to rapidly detect, track, and catalog newly-launched space objects so they can be screened for potential conjunctions.”

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Persons: China’s, SpaceX’s, “ USSPACECOM, ”, Rob Margetta, LeoLabs, John L, Crassidis, “, It’s, Victoria Heath, Audrey Schaffer Organizations: CNN, Taiyuan Satellite, Shanghai Spacecom, Satellite Technology, Space Command, US Department of Defense, NASA, International, Network, University, Buffalo’s School of Engineering, Applied Sciences, LeoLabs, Aerospace Locations: Taiyuan, Shanghai, Victoria