Chinese Long March 5B Rocket Is Hurtling Toward Earth

The Long March 5 Y2 being transported from assembly to the launch site.

The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) launched the Long March 5B rocket into orbit on April 28 to put China’s new Tianhe space station into orbit. After successfully placing Tianhe into orbit, the 5B Long March rocket entered an unsustainable orbit, meaning it will not reach its usual dumpsite in the Pacific. Physicists project the rocket will crash into Earth on May 10 plus or minus 41 hours.

Scientists do not know where the space junk will land because the instability of the orbit prohibits them from making accurate predictions. The rocket orbits Earth every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 mph and is slowly losing altitude. Since more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, the likelihood of the rocket crashing onto land is slim.

The Chinese Modular Space Station depicts its different components, including Tianhe which the Long March 5B rocket launched into orbit.

Some scientists believe that the CNSA could have avoided the 5B rocket entering an unstable orbit had they been more careful and attentive to its trajectory. Nevertheless, the Chinese rocket tumbling towards Earth illustrates the larger problem of space debris.

The ESA monitors over 20,000 debris objects in orbit around the Earth.

Once satellites are no longer in use, the owner must dispose of them to create more room for newer satellites with new missions. However, this disposal method is rarely seen in practice. Scientists classify the majority of space objects as space debris when they are no longer in use. Hence, the Chinese 5B rocket depicts the extreme problem with orbital debris—it risks human safety. Any space object can enter into an unsustainable orbit if scientists are not monitoring it, making space debris an avoidable yet serious problem.