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Giant Chinese rocket’s debris could crash down in New York

A massive piece of Chinese space junk is unpredictably circling Earth and could rain debris down on New York or another metropolitan area in the next few days, scientists warned.

The 21-ton object is the core stage of one of China’s largest rockets, the Long March 5B, which had launched the first module for the country’s space station, Space News reported.

When the core component separated from the rest of the rocket, the remaining portion was supposed to take a predetermined path that would send it falling into the ocean.

Instead, it is orbiting unpredictably.

There are several possible places where debris that survives re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere could crash down — including New York, Madrid and Beijing in the Northern Hemisphere and southern Chile and Wellington, New Zealand, in the Southern Hemisphere, the outlet reported.

Its exact landing is impossible to predict due to its current velocity — orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes, the outlet reported.

But the most likely outcome will be it falls into the ocean or inhabited regions, which account for a large portion of the projected range.

A Long March 5B rocket blasting through the sky.
A Long March 5B rocket blasting through the sky. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell said that large pieces will likely be obliterated by the intense heat during the re-entry to Earth, but smaller pieces may make it to the ground.

“I think by current standards it’s unacceptable to let it re-enter uncontrolled,” McDowell told the outlet.

The decay plot for the Tianhe objects that could fall to the Earth's surface.
The decay plot for the Tianhe objects that could fall to the Earth’s surface. Jonathan McDowell @planet4589

“Since 1990, nothing over 10 tons has been deliberately left in orbit to re-enter uncontrolled,” he added.

The Long March 5B stage, however, is significantly larger than one on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which reportedly caused debris to fall during reentry on a farmer’s field in Washington state.

“The Long March 5B core stage is seven times more massive than the Falcon 9 second stage that caused a lot of press attention a few weeks ago when it reentered above Seattle and dumped a couple of pressure tanks on Washington state,”  McDowell told the outlet.

Chinese space officials launched the Long March 5B carrier rocket last week at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan, state broadcaster CCTV said.

It was carrying modules for the country’s first permanent space station, which is set to be completed around 2022.

At least a dozen Chinese astronauts are currently training to live in the station.

The launch last week was the first of 11 missions to build and equip the station, which is expected to weigh 66 tons.

With Post wires