25-tons of Chinese space debris re-enters Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled descent

In recent days, scientists around the world have been increasingly concerned about the prospect of Chinese space junk uncontrollably re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere and crashing into the planet. Even more concerning, this event would mark the third time in recent history that the Chinese government would be responsible for the phenomenon. At stake for this go-around is another 25-ton Chinese Long March 5B rocket that was set to tumble uncontrollably back to Terra yesterday in its re-entry, according to Space.com.

This is the third time in two years that China has disposed of its rockets in an uncontrolled manner. In the second instance, in May 2021, the rocket debris landed harmlessly in the Indian Ocean. But the first incident, in May 2020, caused metallic objects to reportedly rain down upon villages in the Ivory Coast, although there were no reported injuries.

Ace News Today: 25-tons of Chinese space debris re-enters Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled descent — *Long March 5 rocket before take off in May 2021*

China’s most recent Chinese Long March 5B rocket was transporting a module to the Chinese Space Station, a module designed to serve as laboratory space. The Chinese government has one more module that still needs to launch.

The BBC shared that the uncontrolled return of China’s space debris has raised questions about responsibility for space junk. “There have previously been calls by Nasa for the Chinese space agency to design rockets to disintegrate into smaller pieces upon re-entry, as is the international norm.”

Yesterday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson released a statement regarding debris from the Chinese Long March 5B rocket:

“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) did not share specific trajectory information as their Long March 5B rocket fell back to Earth.
“All spacefaring nations should follow established best practices, and do their part to share this type of information in advance to allow reliable predictions of potential debris impact risk, especially for heavy-lift vehicles, like the Long March 5B, which carry a significant risk of loss of life and property. Doing so is critical to the responsible use of space and to ensure the safety of people here on Earth.”

See the video below regarding the unknown amount of Chinese space debris that entered the Earth’s atmosphere and crashed into the Indian Ocean yesterday.

(Cover image: China’s Long March 5B Rocket, Image credit: Forbes /Twitter)