China's largest rocket has returned to Earth after days of speculations and rumors as to where it would land.
According to China's space agency, a main part of the rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere over the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Most of it burnt up early Sunday.
Reentry took place at 10:24 a.m. Beijing time on Sunday, according to Chinese reports.
"The vast majority of items were burned beyond recognition during the reentry process," Xinhua News Agency said in its report.
In its official Twitter account, the United States Space Command said that the rocket re-entered over the Arabian Peninsula at around 10:15 p.m. EDT. However, "it is unclear if the debris hit ground or water."
Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell monitored the falling rocket. He said on Twitter that an ocean reentry was always statistically the most possible. McDowell went on to say that although China won the gamble, it made a risky move.
An ocean reentry was always statistically the most likely. It appears China won its gamble (unless we get news of debris in the Maldives). But it was still reckless
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) May 9, 2021
Associated Press said people in Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia reported seeing Chinese rocket debris on social media. "It is clear that China is failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris," NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson said in a statement posted on the space agency's official website.
Challenging Time Tracking Debris
The rocket's size and altitude, experts said, made it almost difficult to predict what would happen when it descended to Earth.
China's core module was over 100 feet long and remains one of the largest fragments of space debris ever to hit the ground.
The debris came from the rocket's largest portion, which was responsible for launching China's first permanent space station into orbit.
Discarded rocket stages typically re-enter the atmosphere shortly after liftoff, over water, and do not enter orbit. Models and visualizations from various space science organizations revealed that the debris could land in various flight paths worldwide.
Today's decay plot for the Tianhe objects. The core stage apogee continues to come down slowly. No new data today on Tianhe itself, which could indicate it made an orbit raising burn and tracking has lost it for now. pic.twitter.com/Gr1jz852jf
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) May 3, 2021
Science Times previously reported that the debris could enter portions of the United States, Europe, South America, Central America, Beijing, or New Zealand.
On April 29, 2021, China launched the Long March 5B rocket carrying China's Tianhe space station core module from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province, southern China.
Al Jazeera said China tried to ease global fears. Chinese officials explained that the rocket mostly burns up on reentry and shows a minimal threat to people and properties.
The space station, dubbed Heavenly Harmony, will be China's first to house astronauts on a long-term basis.
China intends to deploy ten more rockets to deliver extra space station components into orbit.
Chinese Rocket Debris, Not The First Time
It's not the first time a rocket has crashed to the ground in recent years. According to CNN, a fragment of a Chinese rocket flew straight over Los Angeles and Central Park in New York City before crashing in the Atlantic Ocean last year. The incident became one of the largest pieces of unchecked space debris ever.
Last May, an 18-ton rocket became the heaviest piece of unregulated debris to crash since the Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1991.
After Beijing announced it had lost ground, China's first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016. The space agency successfully decommissioned Tiangong-2, its second station, in the atmosphere in 2019.
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