Chinese rocket is falling to earth this weekend. It could not be located where and when the rocket will fall but there is very little chance for us to be victims of any accidents in this incident.
Current Status
A Chinese rocket is out of control and circum-navigating the earth. People are still safe even when the rocket will fall, predicted Analysts. The Chinese Long March 5B rocket, 100 feet tall and 22 metric tons in weight, launched last week with the first chunk of Beijing’s space station. The rocket will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere anytime this weekend. The bad news is, the rocket seems to be out of control and may fall anywhere on Earth. However, Analysts said that the rocket has a very high chance to fall on the ocean rather than in any landmark.
The founder of the Space Safety Coalition and top policy expert at AGI’s Commercial Space Operations Operations Center, Mr. Oltrogge mentioned that the public is not at zero risks. But if the rocket heads toward the ocean that’s a different scenario and safe for all.
“Much of the earth is covered in water, so there’s almost no risk,”
Dan Oltrogge
Nothing until Saturday
27,000 man-made space junks are tracked by the US Space Command. They are saying that until Saturday, May 8, nothing can be said about the falling of the rocket. The Long March 5B will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere this Saturday.
Unlike other rockets, Long March 5B is different in build quality and design. The rocket was assigned to deliver a payload of a 22.5 metric ton module which is going to be the staff quarters of China’s Space Station for the upcoming couple of years.
The Route Right Now
The rocket has served its purpose and dead right now. At the same time, the rocket is out of control as well. Long March 5B is orbiting Earth with a 41.5-degree inclination angle diagonally. Geographically the rocket is orbiting over Chile, New Zealand, New York, and Madrid with the inclusion of a great portion of several Oceans mostly.
“The likelihood of any human being getting hit is quite low. It’s extremely low, let’s call it.”
Dan Oltrogge
Risks or No Risk
Apart from this, there are several other threats. At such low-Earth orbit, there are satellites and space junks. Space junk has increased over time as space technology advances. This is not uncommon that space junk or other objects are entering into Earth’s atmosphere. However, most of them get destroyed before reaching Earth’s surface due to atmospheric density and composition. There are exceptions as well. For example last year, pieces of the rocket fell from the sky over Côte d’Ivoire in Africa after sending an experimental satellite into space by China.
“Objects reenter almost every day, and once every few months there’s some stuff that reaches the ground.”
Jonathan McDowell, Harvard-based Astrophysicist
China has good records and histories of having uncontrollable objects in space, mostly their rockets are re-entering Earth’s territory and fall without any control. Back in 20211, Tiangong-1 China’s very first prototype space station was launched but uncontrollably came back to Earth in 2018. Luckily the South Pacific Ocean tackled. Long March 5B is bigger than that 7 tonnes prototype model.
Space Law
Under the 1972 Space Liability Convention Treaty, anyone sending anything on space is liable for that. If any space mission causes any victims on earth due to accidents or so. The liable country will have to provide the necessary support to the victim country or countries which includes infrastructure, economy, and so on.
Wrapping Up
China Long March 5B will soon enter the Earth’s atmosphere. Up until now, the risks are not a major concern. Therefore Let’s wait for the moment and hope that this time it ends well. Nevertheless, the Chinese rocket is falling and that is out of control.
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