It's heads up. This weekend, China plans to launch a powerful Long March 5B rocket called the Wentian, and taking into account the history of the country's Long March 5B spacecraft, it's pretty likely parts of the rocket will crash land.
The third of its kind, the 174-foot-tall rocket launching this Sunday from Hainan is already making chaotic, chaotic re-entries that have resulted in unpredictable crashes around the globe.
The debris from Long March 5B crashed into Africa's west coast, luckily no one was hurt. The Chinese government confirmed last spring that debris from the same model had made their way into the Indian Ocean.
Bill Nelson, the agency's chief, said in a statement that it was clear that China was failing to meet responsible standards when it came to space debris.
The space agencies are lucky that no one has been hurt by showering space junk. According to a study published in Nature Astronomy, there is a 10 percent risk that the debris will cause human casualties in the next decade.
The nation's answer to the US and Russia-managed International Space Station is being built by China. The Long March 5B rockets are being used to help build the orbital outpost, and it's likely that the nation will continue to launch them until the outpost is complete.
Experts think that the launch is cause for concern. The scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics was less than optimistic when asked if there would be another crash after Sunday's takeoff.
"It's almost certain," said McDowell. If they change the core stage design, I will be very surprised. I think they have not, and we are ready for another ride.
There is a chance that another Chinese rocket could be headed for a dangerous uncontrolled reenter.
China Crashed Spacecraft into the Moon to prevent it from becoming space junk.
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