Space debris from a rocket recently launched by China is heading back towards Earth with no control.
On July 24, China launched a Long March 5B-Y3 rocket that contained a new laboratory module called the Wentian for its Tiangong space station. The rocket was launched from Hainan Island on Sunday but its debris will be making an uncontrolled reentry to Earth as early as Saturday, the Aerospace Corporation said.
According to TIME, the possible debris field includes the US, Australia, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia, according to estimates by Aerospace Corp., a federally-funded nonprofit space research center that tracks the reentry of orbital debris. The debris from China's Wentian space lab rocket has the potential to crash and cause wreckage upon impact.
China Launched Rocket Containing the Wentian Lab to Complete Its Own Space Station
China is busy with its space program, which is run by the ruling Communist Party's military wing, the People's Liberation Army. According to CBS News, the agency has proceeded with its space station program on its own, without the collaboration of other nations.
The US refused to include China in the International Space Station due to its military ties. China is now close to completing its own space station, after it launched a massive 23-ton Long March 5B-Y3 rocket to bring the Wentian space lab to the facility.
China's space authorities decided not to guide the booster back into the Earth's atmosphere and it is yet undeterminable when exactly it would make an impact. The rocket debris will mostly burn up upon return, but there is still a risk of fragments causing damage or casualties wherever it crashes.
Aerospace Corp.'s researchers said there was a "non-zero probability" that the debris would land in a populated area as more than 88% of the world's population are found in the reentry's "potential debris footprint." Reentry debris expert at Aerospace Corp. Ted Muelhaupt told USA Today that while it is "fundamentally a low-risk thing," it should be "way higher" than it ought to be because it is 10 times higher than current thresholds.
Generally, space agencies guide the reentry of rocket debris to ensure the world's safety. But China's decision not to guide their rocket's debris has sparked condemnation from NASA, especially when this is not the first time China has done so.
Last year during the reentry of debris from another Chinese rocket, NASA administrator Bill Nelson decried China's "[failure] to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris."
China Reacts to US' Concern Over Uncontrolled Reentry of Chinese Rocket Debris
China has dismissed concerns over the uncontrolled reentry of debris from their Long March 5B-Y3 rocket, with state-sponsored media outlets calling the West's concerns "sour grapes" from those who felt resentful over the CCP's advancements in the space arena. A TV commentator by the name of Song Zhongping called the concerns "smears and defamation."
Meanwhile, Shanghai-based news site Guancha.cn accused US and Western media of "deliberately [exaggerating] the 'loss-of-control'" of the rocket debris, claiming that the West was spreading the narrative "with bad intentions."
