A STRANGE fireball spotted falling over California is thought to have been a large piece of space debris.
Experts now believe the fireball was a chunk of a Chinese spacecraft.
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The fireball was spotted crashing to Earth earlier this week on April 2.
It left many people concerned in Southern California as they didn’t know what they were witnessing, sparking UFO conspiracy theories.
The strange sight was visible from the Sacramento area down to San Diego.
A total of 81 people reported seeing the event, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS).
Astrophysicist and satellite expert Jonathan McDowel soon tweeted that the sighting was a falling chunk of rocket.
Specificially, the orbital module of f China’s Shenzhou 15 craft.
“This was the reentry of the Shenzhou 15 orbital module, over S California circa 0140 PDT Apr 2,” McDowel wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
That rocket was launched into space by China in November 2022.
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It was sending three astronauts to the Tiangong space station.
China launched the Tiangong space station in 2021 and its been permanently crewed since its completion.
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The Shenzhou orbital module ferried the astronauts weighed 3,300 pounds.
This isn’t the first time China has caused controversy with falling space debris.
Its 23-ton Long March 5B rocket which carried the Wentian laboratory module fell back to Earth in an uncontrolled fashion.
No one was hurt but the event led to increase discussed about space debris and space launch safety.
WHAT IS KESSLER SYNDROME?
Some experts are worried that space debris could leave humans trapped on Earth…
- Kessler Syndrome is a concept thought up by the Nasa scientist Donald J. Kessler.
- It refers to the idea that a chain reaction of exploding space debris could create so much space junk in the Low Earth Orbit that we’d be trapped on Earth.
- It could also mean we wouldn’t have the use of satellites because they’d be broken up during the collisions.
- The theory is based on the fact that there are already millions of micrometeoroids orbiting Earth, along with all the new manmade items we’re putting up there.
- A piece of tiny space rock colliding at speed could cause a dynamite amount of damage.
- This could then trigger a chain reaction of exploding space junk, leaving Earth’s orbit full of fragmented pieces of satellites and space debris.
- Services like GPS and television rely on satellites so Kessler Syndrome could change people’s lives forever.
- Once a space debris explosion reaction starts it could take tens of years before it ends.
- This could ruin safe space travel.
