A Harvard astrophysicist says China appears to have a blasé attitude when it comes to space junk, but it’s highly unlikely its latest cast-off will hit anyone.
The Long March 5B rocket, which helped put a space station module into orbit at the end of April, is currently orbiting the planet at nearly 28,000km/h. At some point in the next week, however, it’ll slow down thanks to atmospheric drag and plummet back to Earth.
Chinese government-run Global Times said the “thin-skinned” rocket would burn up in the atmosphere – but that’s not what happened last year when a similar Chinese rocket was left to fall back to Earth on its own, pieces of it raining down in the Atlantic and on a west African village.
The current best estimate for when the current rocket, also known as CZ-5B, will hit the atmosphere is Sunday 2:34pm, plus or minus 21 hours. Orbiting every 90 minutes, where it will land is anyone’s guess – New Zealand is in its flight path.