The Chinese rocket booster is set to crash into Earth at the end of the week but experts still do not know whereabouts it will land and it is uncontrollable, according to ANU cosmologist and astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker.
“What happens is this rocket booster weighing over 20 tons is slowly going around the Earth and as it goes around the Earth, the Earth’s atmosphere drags it a little, slows it down … at some point we do know it will re-enter,” he told Sky News.
Dr Tucker said when rockets are typically launched into space there is “controlled re-entry” where the booster splashes into the ocean or, more commonly, the booster does not go into atmosphere at all and when it is uncontrolled it is difficult to know where it will land.
“You can’t really pinpoint until a few hours out where or roughly when it’s going to come down so it’s a big uncertainty right now.”
“The current window is suggesting it’ll happen about 1:40-1:45pm Sunday our time but it could be as early as 8pm on the 8th or 5am on Sunday.”
