Long March 5B, the out-of-control 21-ton Chinese rocket, is expected to crash back to Earth on Saturday (May 8), possibly hitting an inhabited area, the US government warns.
Debris from a Chinese rocket is expected to fall back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry this weekend.
According to CNN, 18 tonnes it is one of the largest items in decades to have an undirected dive into the atmosphere.
The US on Thursday said it was watching the path of the object but currently had no plans to shoot it down.
“We’re hopeful that it will land in a place where it won’t harm anyone,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “Hopefully in the ocean, or someplace like that.”
US DEFENSE SECRETARY LLOYD AUSTIN
Daily updates on its location are being posted on Space Track, and the government will be providing additional information ‘as it becomes available’, the spokesperson added.
Other satellite trackers have also detected the 100-foot-long, 16-foot-wide rocket body, now designated as ‘2021-035B’, travelling at more than four miles per second – fast enough to loop the Earth in under two hours. ‘U.S. Space Command is aware of and tracking the location of the Chinese Long March 5B in space, but its exact entry point into the Earth’s atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry, which is expected around May 8,’ said US Department of Defense spokesperson Mike Howard.
Various space debris modelling experts are pointing to late Saturday or early Sunday (GMT) as the likely moment of re-entry. However, such projections are always highly uncertain.
Credit And Sources: CNN And Daily Mail
