Remnants of China's largest rocket launched last week are expected to plunge back through the atmosphere late Saturday or early Sunday, the U.S. federally funded space-focused research and development centre said. "The Long March 5B re-entry is unusual because, during the launch, the first stage of the rocket reached orbital velocity instead of falling downrange as is common practice," the Aerospace Corporation said in a blog post. "The empty rocket body is now in an elliptical orbit around Earth where it is being dragged toward an uncontrolled re-entry." The empty core stage has been losing altitude since last week, but the speed of its orbital decay remains uncertain due to unpredictable atmospheric variables. It is one of the largest space debris to re-enter Earth, at 18 tonnes.

Source: dna May 08, 2021 10:07 UTC