Chinese menace on earth! Rocket debris may fall from space on July 31

Yesterday we told you that the ‘stage’ weighing about 21 tonnes of the rocket sent by China to build its space station in space is automatically falling on the earth. Now experts have predicted that this piece coming in the form of space junk will fall on the earth by the end of this month. This stage is part of China’s ‘Long March 5B’ rocket, with the help of which China launched its first Lab Module Wentian last Sunday. This is the third time that China has chosen not to control its space debris. Earlier in 2020 and 2021 also, the debris of Chinese rockets reached the earth uncontrollably.

spacedotcom Quoting researchers from The Aerospace Corporation Center for Orbital Reentry and Debris Studies (CORDS), the rocket’s body will remain in space for about a week. Researchers analyzed tracking data gathered by the US Space Force’s Space Surveillance Network and predicted that the rocket’s body would re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on July 31.

Our latest prediction for #CZ5B rocket body reentry is:
, 31 Jul 2022 07:52 UTC ± 22 hours
Reentry will be along one of the ground tracks shown here. It is still too early to determine a meaningful debris footprint. Follow this page for updates:https://t.co/SxrMtcJnj0 pic.twitter.com/xsDqC8rOEt

— The Aerospace Corporation (@AerospaceCorp) July 26, 2022

However, this estimate will be updated as time passes. At present, it is too early to say where the Chinese rocket will land. Cordes researchers estimate that it will enter Earth somewhere between 41 degrees north latitude and 41 degrees south latitude and not all of the debris will burn up in Earth’s air. That is, some part of the rocket will fall directly on the earth. It is estimated that about 20-40 percent of it will reach the ground. Although the exact number depends on its design. The Aerospace Corporation expects 5 to 9 metric tons of debris.

Earlier also this happened in two ‘Long March 5B’ missions. Launched on 5 May 2020, the body of the rocket fell uncontrolled on the west coast of Africa about a week later. Similarly, the second Long March 5B entered the Indian Ocean in May 2021, 10 days after Tiangong’s core module was launched.