Uncontrolled re-entry by Chinese missile might land anywhere

Part of a massive Chinese rocket is scheduled to make an uncontrolled drop back to Earth, and scientists are concerned about where it might land.

Aerospace scientists predict that debris from the 21-tonne piece, the size of a 10-story structure, will enter the atmosphere on Saturday (November 5).

Scientists are now requesting more information from Chinese officials in order to estimate the trajectory of the rocket, which was launched from Tiangong Space Station on Monday.

“As the rocket body’s altitude decreases and the re-entry approaches, the window will shrink, and will begin to reveal locations that will not be the landing site,” Gregory Henning, project leader at The Aerospace Corporation’s Centre for Orbital Debris and Reentry Studies (CORDS), told the report.

“But the exact location will not be known until it actually enters, suggesting that there is still too much uncertainty to make a prediction about where the rocket will land at this point – despite the fact that its re-entry is expected in just two days’ time.”

Most major cities are now believed to be safe from falling items.

However, “88% of the world’s population does live within those at-risk latitude bounds” of the rocket’s prospective landing zones, according to Henning.

The good news is that the chances of getting afflicted are considered to be six in ten trillion.

This is the fourth time in four years that China’s space agency has allowed a possibly deadly uncontrolled fall.

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The rocket – the Long March 5B, which weighed a massive 23 tonnes in total – was launched on this occasion on Monday (October 31) as part of a mission to transport a new module to the Chinese space station.

After its separation from the station, the rocket, like the three that came before it, continued to orbit the Earth at an erratic trajectory, putting scientists on the back foot as they tried to figure out where it would eventually fall.

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