China decided not to guide the booster back through the atmosphere and it’s not clear exactly when or where it will come down to Earth. While it will largely burn up on return, there remains a slight risk of fragments causing damage or casualties.
According to researchers at The Aerospace Corporation “there is a non-zero probability of the surviving debris landing in a populated area—over 88 percent of the world’s population lives under the reentry’s potential debris footprint.”
While China is not alone in such practices, the size of the Long March rocket stage has drawn particular scrutiny.
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