The Atlantic
Don’t Fall to Pieces Just Because China’s Rocket Is
No one knows where the discarded piece of hardware might land, but there s no reason to panic.
A Long March 5B rocket lifts off from a launch site in ChinaSTR / AFP / Getty
There are many unknowns in the field of space exploration. What came before the Big Bang? What is dark matter? Will we ever make contact with another civilization, or are we destined to remain alone, floating along on this tiny, insignificant speck in the universe?
The latest unknown to captivate the space community is something a little less grand: Where is that giant rocket going to land when it falls out of the sky?
A 21-tonne rocket falling to Earth poses a very low risk to Australians â but it s impossible to say where it will land.
The Long March rocket was launched into space by China carrying the initial module for the nation s first permanent space station.
This was successfully detached, with the rocket entering a decaying orbit that will see it plunge back to Earth in the coming days.
In this photo released by Chinas Xinhua News Agency, a Long March 5B rocket carrying a module for a Chinese space station lifts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site.(AP)
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A spokesperson from the Department of Home Affairs told nine.com.au the government was monitoring the situation.
(Photo : Photo from wikimedia.org)
One of China s largest rockets which launched into the low Earth orbit last Wednesday, April 28, is likely to reenter the earth s surface, after a growing interaction in its atmosphere was believed to have dragged it down to fall back to Earth.
The uncontrolled reentry of the said space debris is expected to crash on Earth over a few weeks or so. The huge rocket identified as the Long March 5B was carrying the 22.5-metric-ton Tianhe core module for the Chinese Space Station which will supposedly serve as main living quarters for astronauts as well as propulsion to maintain orbital altitude.
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A large piece of space debris, possibly weighing several tonnes, is currently on an uncontrolled reentry phase (that s space speak for out of control ), and parts of it are expected to crash down to Earth over the next few weeks.
If that isn t worrying enough, it is impossible to predict exactly where the pieces that don t burn up in the atmosphere might land.
Given the object s orbit, the possible landing points are anywhere in a band of latitudes a little farther north than New York, Madrid and Beijing and as far south as southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand .