21 ton danger on earth! Booster out of control of Chinese rocket went into space

China on Sunday launched the first Lab Module Wentian to build its space station in space. The stage of the rocket through which it was sent into space is automatically going to fall on the earth. This is happening for the third time when China has chosen not to control the disposal of the first stage of its ‘Long March 5B rocket’. Earlier in 2020 and 2021, the debris of Chinese rockets reached the earth uncontrollably. Experienced tracker ‘Jonathan McDowell’, who monitors these events at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has told that the stage of about 21 tons is seen floating on its own.

according to space.comThe US Army has not yet issued any alert regarding this, nor is there any discussion on social media. In general, the risk of casualties from a falling rocket stage is very low, but the body of the Long March 5B rocket is very large. Significantly, China launched the Wentian Space Station module on Sunday. It was docked with the Tiangong Space Station as per the earlier plan. A study in Nature Astronomy suggests that the practice of allowing these giant stages to fall uncontrollably to Earth poses an ‘unnecessary risk’.

In April this year, a bright light was also seen in the sky of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and debris came and fell in many areas. Regarding this, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) had said that it was a ‘close match’ of the re-entry of the Chinese rocket launched in February 2021. When the rocket’s bodies survive re-entry into the atmosphere, the remaining parts such as the nozzle, rings and tanks can impact the Earth.

Even at that time, space-watcher Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics had told that the debris was part of China’s 3B rocket. Such things create a lot of heat and friction when they enter the atmosphere. This can burn them. But big things don’t get destroyed completely. Now nothing can be said with certainty about where the 21-tonne stage floating in space will fall. Although the probability of damage due to this is less, but a challenge cannot be ruled out either.