Huge Chunk of Chinese Space Debris to Crash Down To Earth, A Concern For India?

A part of China’s rocket (Long March 5B rocket) is falling back on earth. This debris weighs several tonnes and is currently out of control or what is termed the re-entry phase. The debris will crash on earth in the coming few weeks but that is not just the worrisome part. Such pieces that fall from space are difficult to read. You never know where they might fall.

It is not possible to predict the landing of these pieces. They could literally fall anywhere. Given the orbit of the debris, it is not really a concern for India as the wage predictions are pointing at New York, Madrid and Beijing being the possible places or other such far places.

This is not the first time that the debris from a Chinese rocket or particularly any rocket has fallen back on earth. Earlier unburnt pieces of Chinese rocket fell into the Atlantic Ocean and also few parts were found in Cote D’Ivoire, Africa. Sometimes the pieces are big enough to cause havoc but sometimes they are so small that it wouldn’t matter.

When you send something into space, the chances of it crash landing back on earth are also there. A lot of times, space debris has fallen on earth. Sometimes we are lucky enough where the rocks fall into the water bodies and do not cause any damage but sometimes it will end up being disastrous for a few.  

Over the past decades, many incidents took place where space debris fall on earth. Space scientists have said that since most of the earth is covered in water, this debris has just a small per cent chance of falling onto the land. The odds are really less.