The largest section of the rocket that launched the main module of China's first permanent space station into orbit is expected to plunge back to earth as early as Saturday at an unknown location.
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Usually, discarded core, or first-stage, rockets re-enter soon after lift-off, usually over water, and do not go into orbit like this one did.
China's space agency has yet to say whether the core stage of the huge Long March 5B rocket is being controlled or will make an out-of-control descent.
Last May, another Chinese rocket fell uncontrolled into the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa.
Basic details about the rocket stage and its trajectory are unknown because the Chinese government has yet to comment publicly on the re-entry.
However, the newspaper Global Times, published by the Chinese Communist Party, said the stage's "thin-skinned" aluminum-alloy exterior would easily burn up in the atmosphere, posing an extremely remote risk to people.
The US Defense Department expects the rocket stage to fall to earth on Saturday.
Where it would hit "cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its re-entry", the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The non-profit Aerospace Corp expects the debris to hit the Pacific near the equator.
The Long March 5B rocket carried the main module of Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, into orbit on April 29.
China plans 10 more launches to carry additional parts of the space station into orbit.
The roughly 30-metre-long stage would be among the biggest space debris to fall to earth.
China's first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it had lost control.
In 2019, the space agency controlled the demolition of its second station, Tiangong-2, in the atmosphere.
Australian Associated Press
