The Long March 5B, a 22-ton Chinese rocket, crashed back to Earth this weekend. Where will it land?
When you are asked, “What is it?” this weekend, here’s your answer: Long March 5B, a 44,000-pound rocket body spinning toward Earth. But scientists aren’t sure when and where this debris is — from the Chinese launch last Sunday Wentian space station module — about to land. The Aerospace Corporation did release the latest prediction path for the debris – with the disclaimer that it’s too early to be sure. Experts believe that 20 percent to 40 percent of the massive rocket’s body mass will survive its fiery journey through Earth’s atmosphere to the planet’s surface, but not intact. Seventy percent of the planet is covered in oceans, so the odds are that whatever remains of the rocket will land in water, but that’s not guaranteed. Shrugging in response to the potential danger of the Long March 5B debris is nothing new. Aaron Boley, co-director of the Outer Space Institute and planetary astronomer at the University of British Columbia, said about 70 percent of rockets that orbit and r