An out-of-control Chinese rocket is projected to crash into Earth within the next few days.
A piece of a Chinese rocket that did not detach itself and plunge into the ocean safely after launch has been circling the Earth at thousands of miles per hour. The 22-ton piece of equipment is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere sometime this weekend, and when exactly is left unknown until just hours before.
“We expect it to reenter sometime between the eighth and 10th of May. And in that two-day period, it goes around the world 30 times. The thing is traveling at like 18,000 miles an hour. And so if you’re an hour out at guessing when it comes down, you’re 18,000 miles out in saying where,” Harvard University Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told CNN.
According to The Aerospace Corporation, “reentry can be as far north as Chicago, New York City, Rome and Being and as south as New Zealand and Chile.”
Given the planet consists of about 75 percent of water, experts believe the space junk will plunge into the ocean. Plus, the majority of Earth’s land is either uninhabited or lightly populated.
“I don’t think people should take precautions. The risk that there will be some damage or that it would hit someone is pretty small — not negligible, it could happen — but the risk that it will hit you is incredibly tiny,” McDowell added.
SOURCE: CNN
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