23-ton Space Rocket Falls to Earth

Last year, an out-of-control rocket piece embarked on an unknown journey to fall to Earth. While it was unpredictable where the piece would land, luckily there was no fear and the piece fell far from settlements in the Indian Ocean. While the rocket in question belonged to China’s Long March 5B rocket, similar news came from the same rocket today.

The giant thruster of the Long March 5B rocket, which China launched on July 24 to carry a module to its space station, went out of control. It has been determined that the said thruster will crash into the Earth on Sunday this weekend, following the calculations. As before, the place where the thruster will be hammered cannot be determined clearly.

The propellant will not be completely destroyed as it enters the atmosphere:

The gigantic thruster, which weighs 53 meters and 23 tons, will not burn to ashes like small-sized rocket parts when entering the atmosphere due to this mass. On the contrary, 20-40% of the thruster will crash to Earth. According to the calculations, the propellant will enter the atmosphere on 31 July at 03:24 CEST.

The risk of the propellant entering residential areas is not 0, according to scientists. Because the information in the graphic above includes the region where 88% of the world’s population lives within the possible region where the propellant will enter the atmosphere. It is not expected to cause serious damage if the rocket crashes.