Where the stars fall: satellite launch debris, infrastructural violence, and the making of sacrifice zones in rural China

This article examines an overlooked dimension of global satellite culture by analysing the impact of falling satellite launch debris on rural communities in China. While state narratives obscure such violence or reframe it within a rhetoric of care, this study turns to what I call a counter-archive: an assemblage of Zhang Zanbo’s independent documentary Falling from the Sky (2009), scattered local reports, government directives, and military essays. Through this archive, I recover the lived experiences of those inhabiting China’s ‘drop zones’. This article argues that the violence associated with satellite launches is not an accidental byproduct but a systematized outsourcing of risk. China’s national dream of space development is precisely realized by producing marginal communities that are excluded from its benefits while bearing the material consequences of this exclusion. This violence not only shapes the physical and affective conditions of villagers’ lives but also extends into the recovery and compensation practices, where long-term harm is reduced to calculable units that ultimately reinforce state power. Ultimately, the article calls for deeper reflection on global satellite and space culture, particularly on how global ambitions intersect with localized violence and how national development is sustained through the invisible sacrifices of the most vulnerable communities.