As the remains of a Chinese rocket continue to fall down towards the Earth, the country's space agency is closely monitoring its activity in the atmosphere.
The uncontrolled entry of the debris is expected to hit the planet as early as Saturday, July 30, according to the latest report.
Uncontrolled Chinese Rocket Debris to Land Soon
(Photo : SpaceX from Unsplash)
Rocket debris from a Chinese module might soon hit the planet as early as Saturday, July 30.
In an article by USA Today, The Aerospace Corporation, a California-based nonprofit space research center, said that the remnants of the approaching Chinese rocket could hit the Earth on the weekend.
The space debris came from the Wentian space module, which recently launched into space. The uncontrolled reentry of the parts will continue until they land on a specific spot on the planet.
This event has worried experts about its impact once it crashes down to the Earth. To note, China has already done this in the past. It allowed the space debris to fall back to the planet.
Last year, some scientists grew concerned when they noticed that the remaining debris in the Tiangong space station landed on the Indian Ocean.
At the time, experts and other space agencies all over the world had been monitoring its entry as it passed through the atmosphere.
Although there's already an estimated date of the reentry, no one still knows the exact spot where it will land soon.
Regarding the 2021's rocket reentry, the US Space Command previously said that there's no way to figure out the location of landing within hours of the event.
Related Article: 21-Ton Chinese Rocket is Falling to the Earth, But Scientists Can't Predict Where and When it Will Hit
Chinese Rocket Reentry Poses Low Risk
According to Reuters, the experts said that there's only a "fairly low" chance that the debris will crash on people and properties on the Earth. Since the majority of the planet is composed of water, there's a huge chance that it will fall into the oceans or seas.
"We estimate that basically only 3% of the ground track is over the U.S.," The Aerospace Corporation director Lael Woods said.
As per the company's Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies director Marlon Sorge, the impact of the reentry can be mitigated given that the object has a 1 in 10,000 chance of landing.
Another expert from the Aerospace Corporation said that the Chinese rocket reentry is a "low-risk" thing. He pointed out that it's 10 times higher than their thresholds.
Still, the impact shouldn't be underestimated. What happened back in May 2020 might possibly take place if no precautions are implemented for the public.
At that time, the remnants of the Long March 5B hit the Ivory Coast. The West African country saw a lot of destroyed buildings. However, no reports of casualties were reported in the region.
As for the Chinese side, the country's spokesman Zhao Lijan acknowledged that the chance of the rocket debris hitting humans and buildings was "very low."
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Joseph Henry
