The newest piece of huge Chinese space rocket junk which weighs roughly 25 tons would fall back to Earth towards the end of the month, as per the researchers at the Aerospace Center for Orbital Re-entry and Debris Studies. CORDS researchers had predicted that the rocket body would re-enter into Earth's atmosphere on Sunday (31st, July). Well, it was China's Long March 5B rocket which was launched on Sunday (24th July) to orbit the second module for China's under-construction Tiangong space satellite.

HIGHLIGHTS
25 tons Chinese space rocket junk would fall back to Earth on July 31
China's Long March 5B rocket was launched on 24th July
China would be launching its third and final Long March 5B rocket soon

CORDS had analyzed by tracking the data which was gathered by the U.S. Space Force's Space Surveillance Network and had predicted that the rocket body would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at around 3:30 a.m. EDT (0730 GMT) on July 31, plus or minus 22 hours. The falling Chinese space junk would be around 53.6 meters high and because of the uncontrolled nature of its descent, there would be 'a non-zero probability of the surviving debris landing would be in a populated region.'

The core stages of orbital-class rockets were built to be steered safely into the sea or over sparsely inhabited areas. However, the Long March 5B core stage goes into orbit with its payload which would set up an uncontrolled crash back to Earth.

The researchers have mentioned that 20% to 40% of the mass would definitely reach the ground. Well, according to Aerospace this would mean 5.5 to 9.9 tons which would impact the Earth surface.

In a statement last year which was about another piece of Chinese rocket debris falling to Earth, NASA administrator Bill Nelson had mentioned that 'it was evident that China would be failing to meet the responsible standards about their space debris.' Nelson added 'it would be important that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to confirm the safety, stability, security and long-term sustainability of outer space activities.'

The Tiangong space station would ultimately consist of three modules. Well, China would be launching its third and final Long March 5B rocket this fall to hold the last of three China's space station modules into orbit.

Also Read: Space Debris of China Rocket Found in Rural Maharashtra, India