Images Hint SpaceX, NASA, and China Space Junk Hits Ground, Someone Might Get Hurt

It's raining rocket components, and experts in space-junk are worried that one day a piece of debris that falls off the orbit of Earth could be able to strike someone. A booster for a 25ton LongMarch 5B rocket that pushed part of China's brand new satellite into space late in the month of July returned to Earth on Saturday.

Although some of the booster likely burned out during the flight through earth's atmosphere, reports indicate that some of the rocket could be able to survive the fall and crashed in close proximity to people-populated regions of Borneo, an island located in Southeast Asia. The debris was discovered both in the Malaysian and Indonesian side on the islands, and also in the waters close to and around the Philippines. The sites of the debris were in the direction of the booster's return to the atmosphere. The locations were previously estimated by experts from orbital debris.

"They definitely appear to be rocket parts for me," Ted Muelhaupt who is a consultant to Aerospace Corporation's Chief Engineer's Office, said in a statement, adding that "I've had no reason to doubt that they're pieces of this rocket."

In July, a shepherd from Australia discovered a cryptic chunk of metal that was sticking out of the ground with a height of nearly 10 feet. On Wednesday Australian Space Agency officials announced that the Australian Space Agency said the massive piece of hardware was found in the defunct trunk of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was used to transport astronauts on behalf of NASA last year.

It is only China as well as SpaceX can verify that the fragments are part of their spacecraft. However, experts like Muelhaupt claim that they are convinced by the reports."There's no doubt that I am convinced," Jonathan McDowell, an Harvard astronomer who carefully tracks objects orbiting Earth said.

These are just a few of the most striking instances of a widespread. Everyday, a variety of human-made objects are thrown from orbit, then return to Earth as per Muelhaupt who is responsible for the Aerospace Corporation's Reentry database.

A lot of space objects explode within the air, however pieces of material usually remain intact during the fall. Experts from Aerospace Corporation Aerospace Corporation say that up to 40 percent of the weight of a huge spacecraft that is falling from orbit can reach the ground. Each week an object that weighs at least one ton is thrown from orbit before reentering space, Muelhaupt said.

In an research study that was published by the journal Nature during July scientists estimated a 10percent chance the debris could strike someone or more in the course of a decade.