US Space Command reported that debris from a large Chinese booster rocket Long March 5B returned to Earth on Saturday.
According to a statement on Twitter, around 12:45 pm EDT (UTC -4), the former rocket reentered Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. There was no information available right away about any debris or damage brought on by the rocket's unplanned return.
The Aerospace Corporation had warned that although it was expected to burn up upon return, there was a small chance pieces could cause damage or casualties. Additionally, the firm was unable to foresee the precise site of entrance or the potential extent of the probable harm.
The booster caught the eye of the experts and enthusiasts online, but China chose against guiding it back through the atmosphere, according to reports. It was a component of China's most powerful rocket, the enormous Long March 5B-Y3 rocket, which launched the Wentian module to the space station, where three astronauts are presently staying.
Several videos have appeared on social media, allegedly showing the reentry of the debris burning brightly in the evening sky over Malaysia. Although users thought it was a meteor burning in the Earth's atmosphere, experts suggested it was most likely a Chinese rocket booster.
The Aerospace Corporation's report claimed that over 88% of the world's population resides within the potential footprint of the reentry's debris, therefore there is a non-zero likelihood the surviving debris may land in a populated region.
Last May, NASA accused China of irresponsible debris management due to the uncontrolled fall of the stages of the same rocket.
“It is critical that China and all spacefaring nations and commercial entities act responsibly and transparently in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of outer space activities," NASA's administrator Bill Nelson said then.
However, China is not the only country engaging in these techniques of sending their debris to an uncontrollable fall back to Earth, but the size of the Long March rocket stage has attracted particular attention.
A Chinese cargo spacecraft that was servicing the nation's permanent orbiting space station burnt up largely upon reentering the atmosphere earlier this week, per the CBS News report. The China Manned Space Agency reportedly indicated only a few minor pieces of the Tianzhou-3 spacecraft managed to fall safely into a designated region of the South Pacific on Wednesday.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Beijing's foreign ministry, dismissed concerns about the safety of such return of space debris on Wednesday.
"Since the development stage of the space engineering program, China has taken into consideration the debris mitigation and return from orbit into atmosphere of missions involving rocket carriers and satellite sent into orbit," he said. "It is understood that this type of rocket adopts a special technical design that most of the components will be burnt up and destroyed during the reentry process. The possibility of causing damage to aviation activities or on the ground is extremely low."
The US space shuttle Columbia, which returned to Earth in February 2003, experienced the most catastrophic re-entry breakup over a populated region. There were no injuries on the ground despite a substantial amount of debris hitting the ground when an over 81,600 tonnes spaceship fragmented above Texas.