Out-of-control Chinese rocket parts could crash to Earth this week

Space News reports that the booster of a large Chinese rocket could come crashing to Earth in coming days. Where the debris will land is anyone’s guess.

The seemingly uncontrolled reentry is the CZ-5B core of China’s Long March 5B, which was used to launch the module into orbit for the construction of a Chinese space station.

The disposable booster and that rocket-propelled module reportedly parted ways after just over 8 minutes of flying together Wednesday, with the module headed into space and the 20-metric ton booster — or whatever parts of it survive reentry — possibly falling back to Earth soon.

According to Space News, if the nearly 100-foot long object makes its way back into Earth’s atmosphere, it would be the “the biggest human-made objects to perform an uncontrolled reentry.”

While it’s likely the rocket booster would burn up into fragments that fall into an ocean or otherwise non-populated area, there is no way of knowing what lands where.

A Chinese official spoke of the launch Thursday, but it does not seem that there were effective measures in place to manage its flight after releasing the module.

Deorbit systems are commonly used for larger objects operating in space. Observations from ground-based trackers on Earth reportedly suggested the fast-moving booster is out of control.