In March debris from a Falcon 9 rocket launched by US company SpaceX fell to Earth in Washington and on the Oregon coast.

There was no immediate report on any debris or damage caused by the rocket's uncontrolled return. In 2019 the space agency controlled the demolition of its second station, Tiangong-2, in the atmosphere. The former rocket reentered Earth's atmosphere above the Indian Ocean at about 12:45 p.m. It was the heaviest debris to fall uncontrolled since the former Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1991.Ĭhina’s first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it had lost control. In May 2020 another Chinese rocket fell uncontrolled into the Atlantic off west Africa. ”This particular case combines quite some of the mass in a single event which is remarkable, but it will not alter the annual risk profile too much,” Krag said. The vast majority plunges into the Pacific. The roughly 100-foot-long remnant, a section that launched the main module of China’s first space station, would be among the biggest space debris to fall to Earth.

For the Chinese rocket body, that would be the equivalent of several tonnes.Ībout 150 tonnes of space hardware fall back to Earth each year and so far there have been no casualties. “A rough rule of thumb derived from the more detailed analysis of known objects, but not necessarily comparable, suggests that between 20% and 40% of the dry mass can survive,” he said. Krag said it was not possible to predict how much of the rocket would survive re-entry without having design details of the Long March 5b first stage. The rocket’s trajectory means that any parts that survive re-entry will land between 41 degrees north and 41 degreessouth, a strip of Earth that runs from southern regions of Spain, Portugal and Italy down to Australia. It is hard to pinpoint when and where the rocket will come down, but current ESA estimates are between 8 May and 10 May. Plunging back to Earth: Chinese rocket makes re-entry China says debris of Long March 5B landed in Indian Ocean and most of it burned up in the atmosphere. The latest data shows it is in an elliptical orbit ranging from 165km to 292km from Earth. Holger Krag, the head of the European Space Agency’s space debris office, said an Austrian laser station was able to track the falling rocket. China plans 10 more launches to carry additional parts of the space station into orbit. The Long March 5B rocket carried the main module of Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, into orbit on 29 April. Things more than 10 tonnes, we don’t let them fall out of the sky uncontrolled deliberately.” “What’s bad is that it’s really negligent on China’s part.

Rocket falling to earth