Space "junk" the size of a 10-story building will fall to Earth but no one knows where

Once again – fourth in two years – a big space Chinese "garbage" weighing 23 tons and the height of a 10-story building, a section of a Long March 5B rocket spins like Russian roulette around the Earth where it will fall in an uncontrolled manner probably today or Saturday and no one yet knows exactly where that will happen.

The rocket is the one that launched the third and final segment of the new Chinese Tiangong Space Station on October 31. As with previous launches of the same heavy-lift rocket, China's space agency did not conduct a controlled descent of the remaining portion of the rocket after it released its payload.

Although much of the rocket will burn up in the atmosphere by the time it reaches Earth, some of it will eventually – 20% to 40% – be expected to fall on it, possibly in the sea that covers 70% of our planet.

It is estimated that about 88% of the world's population lives in the areas of possible fall, but experts nevertheless pointed out that the chances of someone being hit by the huge "junk" are only six in 10 trillion.

In July this year a Long March 5B missile part weighing 5,5 to 10 tons had crashed in the Indian Ocean, in April 2021 something similar had happened in the same ocean, while in 2020 parts of the missile had fallen somewhere in West Africa. Although no disasters or deaths have been reported so far from such incidents, the voices of those who call for the establishment of international regulations or even laws to prevent such incidents are gradually increasing, coming from other countries with a space program, according to the "Times of the New York' and Space.com.

Source: gazzetta.gr