It's heads up in Thailand! There is a chance of China's Long March 5B booster debris hitting the country

Image from The Nation Thailand/ANN

BANGKOK, July 30 (The Straits Times/ANN): There is a 1.2 per cent chance that debris from the falling Chinese rocket booster will hit Thailand, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) said.

In a Facebook post on Friday night (July 29), GISTDA said there is still a small chance that some debris may land here because Thailand is in the rocket’s orbit path.

The massive 21-tonne booster, part of the Long March 5B rocket that was launched by China on July 24, may result in masses of debris even after most of it burns in space.

GISTDA said it has been using the Space Traffic Management System or Zircon to analyse the situation and has urged people to monitor updates even though the chance of the debris hitting Thailand is quite low.

This is the third time that a rocket is falling uncontrollably back to Earth.

The first was in May 2020, when a massive, out-of-control Chinese rocket fell out of the sky and hit the west coast of Africa.

The Long March 5B module took off last Sunday from China’s Hainan Island to dock at its Tiangong space station. - The Nation Thailand/ANN