The debris of a Chinese missile crashes into the ground this weekend

A missile launched from China was launched into orbit on April 29. After its successful mission to take the first components of a future Chinese space station into space, the spacecraft ran out of fuel and returned to Earth’s atmosphere out of control.

The Pentagon tracks a missile during its orbits around the planet, which occur every 90 minutes. It is expected to enter the Earth’s atmosphere again uncontrollably this weekend, which puts it at risk of collapsing into a populated area.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “has been informed and knows that Space Command is literally tracking missile debris.”

China on Thursday launched the first of three components of its space station, CSS, which was powered by a Long March 5B rocket. It’s the body of this missile that will land in the next few days, and nobody knows where.

It is almost the body of the missile, if I understand correctly. “It is almost unchanged,” he said, explaining in detail that a return to the atmosphere is scheduled “on Saturday.

After separating the space unit, the launcher began to orbit the planet in an irregular path, slowly losing its height, making it nearly impossible to predict about its entry point into the atmosphere, and thus its fall point.

China is not interested in the potential disintegration

It is possible that missile debris decomposes on contact with the atmosphere, leaving only small debris to collide.

But if it remains the same, as the planet is made up of 70% water, then there is a good chance the missile will fall into the sea, although it is not safe. Experts estimate that it could collide with a populated area or a ship.

When asked about the possibility of destroying space debris if Earth’s areas are at risk, the Pentagon spokesman replied that it was “too early” to say so.

“We are watching and following it as closely as possible,” he said. “But it’s too early to know where he’s going and if there’s anything that can be done.”

So far, the Chinese space agency has not specified whether the Long March 5B missile is under control or if it will launch quickly.

There is a possibility that parts of the missile could fall to the ground, possibly in a populated area, as in May 2020, when pieces of another Chinese Long March 5B missile rained on the Ivory Coast, damaging many buildings, though This does not happen. Recorded injuries.

With information from agencies