Slim chance of debris from Chinese rocket hitting people, buildings

 

The public is advised not to worry over reports of a Chinese-owned rocket, known as Long March 5B, which is expected to crash to Earth this weekend as the probability of debris from the object hitting humans or damaging building structures is very low.

According to the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA), the prediction is based on the fact that 70 percent of the Earth’s surface consists of water, apart from Malaysia’s small size compared to the area of the Earth’s surface.

In addition, MYSA said that the exact location that the rocket debris is expected to crash on re-entry is still not accurately predicted and said it will update developments from time to time. According to media reports the debris is the main segment of the rocket.

“The latest prediction of the Long March 5B rocket debris falling to Earth is on May 7 between 9.34am and 3.34pm Malaysian time. The debris from the rocket is still orbiting and descending, approaching the ‘re-entry zone’,” MYSA said in a statement today.

MYSA said the Long March 5B is quite large and the debris that is likely to crash to Earth would also be large.

However, the agency said most of the debris would be burnt up in the atmosphere and shattered into small fragments, leaving only pieces that are not completely burnt up falling to the Earth’s surface.

MYSA also advised the public not to touch or pick up any suspicious objects or inhale vapors emitted from suspected debris from the crashing of the rocket.

The public is also advised to call the 999 emergency line or the MYSA at 03-26972570, or lodge a report if they witnessed any related incidents, and avoid spreading false information.

The agency added that the Long March 5B was not the largest object to fall into the Earth’s atmosphere, as the previous record involved the Russian-owned Mir space station with a capacity of 120,000kg on March 23, 2001.

In comparison, the residual weight of the Long March 5B rocket is expected to be in the 21,000kg range and is only 1/5 of the weight of the Mir space station, according to the statement.

The Long March 5B rocket was launched on April 29 to send the core module of China’s Tianhe space station weighing 22,600kg into its operational orbit in space.

- Bernama