Qantas has repeatedly had to delay scheduled flights from Sydney to Johannesburg due to falling debris from SpaceX rockets re-entering the atmosphere.
The Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which carry both satellites and humans into space, often target the southern Indian Ocean for re-entry due to its remoteness.
While the most expensive parts of the rocket are reusable, some components burn on re-entry, resulting in falling debris that poses a potential risk.
QANTAS JOHANNESBURG FLIGHT DELAYS
To operate safely, Qantas has had to delay several flight departures to prevent its aircraft from being hit by falling debris during flight.
Data from Flightradar24 shows that Qantas’ flights to Johannesburg have faced several significant delays over the past few weeks.
QANTAS DELAYS DEPARTING JOHANNESBURG FLIGHTS
Lengthy delays were experienced on 30 December, as well as on 2 and 3 January.
The delayed departures have been for between two to six hours.
The Guardian says that these delays are being caused by last-minute changes in coordinates for the location and timing of the re-entry of rockets from Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Qantas has requested that it be warned in advance of debris falls, to be able to inform passengers of delayed flight departures.
“While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches has moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure. Our teams notify customers of changes to their flight as soon as we know it will be impacted.” Head of Qantas’s Sydney Operations Centre, Ben Holland said.
FALLING DEBRIS WARNINGS
Techcrunch reports that Qantas has been receiving late warnings as to where and when rocket debris would fall.
The airline receives warnings specifying geographical coordinates and timing of re-entry. However, these can change at short notice, sometimes right up until the time of departure.
Thus, forcing the airline to delay its flights until when the risk is no longer present.
FALLING ROCKET DEBRIS
Falling debris is problematic for Qantas’ flights between Sydney and Johannesburg.
This is because the flight path that the aircraft follows is along the area where rocket debris may fall.
Aerotime reports that the rocket debris is directed toward the southern Indian Ocean. This is due to its remote location and distance from land.
Qantas’ flights between Sydney and Johannesburg follow a route across the southern Indian Ocean. This routing lies close to the remote northern edge of the Antarctic ice cap.
“Over the past few weeks, we’ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the US Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean,” Holland said.
Have you been affected by the delays to Qantas’ Johannesburg flights?
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