“This risk is entirely avoidable as there are now technologies and mission designs that can provide controlled re-entries (usually in remote ocean regions) instead of uncontrolled and therefore entirely random,” he said via email. Holger Krag, head of the European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office, said international best practice is to conduct controlled re-entry, aimed at a remote part of the ocean, whenever the risk of accidents is very high. He added that the re-entry zone for the missile was geographically limited between latitudes 41 degrees south and 41 degrees north of the equator. The US space agency said it would monitor the Chinese rocket’s fall back to Earth, according to a spokesman. Based on varying atmospheric conditions, the exact point of entry of the rocket stage into Earth’s atmosphere “cannot be determined within a few hours of re-entry,” the spokesman said, but it is estimated to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere around Aug. 1 . The 18th Space Defense Squadron, the part of the US military that monitors re-entries, will also provide daily updates on its location. CNN has reached out to the China Manned Space Agency for comment. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said that space junk weighing more than 2.2 tons usually lands in a specific location on its first orbit around Earth. “The thing is, things this big usually don’t get into orbit without an active control system,” he said. With no active control system and no engine to restart to propel it back to Earth … it just falls into orbit and eventually burns up due to friction with the atmosphere,” McDowell told CNN. China was heavily criticized last year for its handling of space debris after it launched another unit on a similar rocket. Its remains sank in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives 10 days after launch. NASA said China had failed to “meet responsible standards.” “Spacefaring nations must minimize risks to people and property on Earth from re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency about these operations,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said at the time. China responded to the criticism by accusing the US of “suspicion of fear” over the missile relaunch and accused US scientists and NASA of “acting against their conscience” and being “anti-intellectual”. In 2020, a Chinese rocket core — nearly 20 tons — made an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, passing directly over Los Angeles and Central Park in New York City before finally plunging into the Atlantic Ocean. Space junk like old satellites re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on a daily basis, although most of it goes unnoticed because it burns up long before it hits the ground. It’s only larger space debris — such as spacecraft and rocket parts — that pose very little risk to people and infrastructure on the ground.
