How To Track China’s Out-Of-Control Rocket As It Hurtles Towards Earth

China has said its Long March 5B rocket will likely burn up on reentry and not pose a risk to people, but none of that is certain.

China’s Long March 5B rocket is set to make what the U.S. military has described as an uncontrolled reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere this weekend — though its exact entry point remains unknown. U.S. and European tracking centers said Saturday that the rocket, which is traveling at 18,000 mph, is expected to plunge back through the atmosphere late Saturday or early Sunday. Chinese officials have offered assurances that the falling rocket will mostly burn up upon reentry and has “a very low probability of causing harm” to people or property. But as CNN noted, the European Space Agency has predicted a potential “risk zone” that encompasses a huge swath of the globe — including “virtually all of the Americas south of New York, all of Africa and Australia, parts of Asia south of Japan and Europe’s Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.”