As more space junk falls to earth, will China clean up its act?

A piece of rocket will fall to Earth in the next few days. A lot of it will not burn up on re-entry.

It's possible to land as one piece, but it's also possible to land as many as hundreds of miles away. The likely impact zone is within the latitudes of 41 degrees north and 41 degrees south, covering most of the US and South America, Africa, the Middle East, and most of Asia.

Predicts are iffy beyond that.

A few hours after it re-enters the atmosphere, we will know where it is. It might take a few hours before we know when the rocket will hit the earth. If you are an hour out, you are 17,000 miles out.

There is a chance that the space junk will not hit a populated area. Less than 1% of the world's population is considered to be populated.

Dr Walsh said that "everything else is ocean, forest or agricultural land." It is not likely to cause damage or death.

Space watchers aren't happy about the situation Experts say that the impact will be similar to a small plane crash and that it will be less fatal than missile strikes and accidents. The risk could be reduced.

A new laboratory module was delivered to the space station on Sunday. An extra engine on the payload gives a final boost to the rocket before it leaves the atmosphere and allows it to fall in a more predictable manner.

The 5B rocket, one of the largest in use, pushes fully into the air before it separates. The launch section travels through space for days or weeks before coming back to Earth. There's something somewhere.

A Chinese Long March 5B is believed to have caused the damage to the two villages in May 2020.

Bill Nelson, a Nasa administrator, accused China of failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris, after the second 5B launcher harmlessly landed in seas near theMaldives.

China rejects the accusation. The Chinese space exploration had always acted in accordance with international law and customary practice, and the chance of the debris causing harm was extremely low, according to the foreign ministry.

The majority of the components of the unit will burn up on re-entry into the atmosphere, according to the unit's designer.

The EU tracking network shows that the unit is tumbling, which means it is not controlled.

Prof Chi-Kuang is the head of the space science department at Taiwan's National Central University. When parts of its Skylab space station hit Western Australia in the 70s, Nasa was fined $400. It has yet to pay.

He accused the media of alarmism and said that people were scared in this case. There is something heavy and big above our heads, people think. He thinks that if China can prevent damage, they will prevent it.

People will be responsible for compensation if the debris hits someone. There are no international rules to control re-entries.

It is an interesting quirk of space law that if you damage something, you are liable for it, but if you do something riskier, you get away with it.

If there is more than one in 10,000 chance of injury, the US and the EU won't launch the risk assessments. China seems to have a lower bar.

Villagers in a remote part of India found large parts of a Chinese rocket in February. The inland Xichang satellite launch site frequently rains debris down on communities, with officials issuingevacuation notices for residents to "adjust your location quickly".

The launches should be a PR coup for China, according to Walsh. There are different levels of alarm in the headlines.

They hope the bad publicity will lead to changes. They're embarrassed by the bad publicity. They know this is a problem. Maybe we will see that the next generation of rockets will be better behaved and re-enter more safely if they don't mention it.