PEOPLE in Brighton will be watching the skies this weekend for debris from a large Chinese rocket that is expected to crash to Earth- and no-one knows where it will land.

The debris is from a booster that was used during the launch of a module for the country’s new space station last month.

It is currently orbiting Earth and is due to re-enter the atmosphere between May 8 and 10.

However, scientists are concerned that some pieces may survive re-entry and collide with us.

Will it hit Brighton?

Speaking with reporters in America yesterday, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin ruled out the prospect of shooting down any debris.

“We are hopeful that it will land in a place where it won’t harm anyone, hopefully in the ocean or someplace like that,” he said.

The uncontrolled re-entry has raised some eyebrows among the international community, as larger pieces of debris are normally disposed of on their first orbit around Earth or are controlled from the ground to a specific area away from people.

Most satellites and space debris are sent deliberately crashing into area of the South Pacific ocean, where the remains of more than 260 spacecraft lie, including the former Russian space station Mir.

Although the chances of the debris hitting land are pretty slim, at least two villages in the Ivory Coast reported finding objects that may have come from a similar Chinese rocket launch in May last year.

Has this ever happened before?

There have been other close calls with uncontrolled space debris, when the United States’ first space station Skylab came down to Earth in 1979, chunks of the complex hit parts of Australia, thankfully without any casualties.

China’s launch was the first of 11 planned missions to construct a new space station, which should be completed late next year. The Tiangong Space Station (TSS) will have a crew of three to perform a variety of experiments in Earth orbit.

The first crewed mission, Shenzhou-12, is expected to take place next month.

Space debris has become a growing problem in Earth’s orbit, with concerns that the growing amount of “space junk” could result in collisions with spacecraft and important satellites needed for day-to-day life on Earth, including GPS and internet connection.