A huge 21-ton Chinese space booster is set to fall from Earth's orbit, with programmers admitting it could fall anywhere on the planet below.
The Long March 5B rocket body was used to fire the Wentian space station module into space last week.
Unlike Nasa, which controls how its large space debris is disposed of such as into the Earth’s vast oceans, the Chinese have no such system in place despite requests to do so.
As a result the 21-ton inert core is now drifting in the void but will eventually crash back towards Earth., Space.com reports.
Astronomer Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics confirmed on Twitter : “The core stage and the Wentian module have separated and are now orbiting separately.
“Two objects catalogued from the CZ-5B launch.
“Orbital epoch confirms the inert 21t rocket core stage remains in orbit and was not actively deorbited.
“Uncontrolled drag shrinks the circular orbit and you are plowing though the same high density at every point on the orbit.
“Controlled: you instantaneously change the orbit.”
The launch is the third in three years in which the Chinese have not acted to control how its massive rocket is disposed of.
It comes after research by Michael Byers, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, measured the risk of falling space debris.
After performing a number of experiments his team discovered there is a 10% chance of falling rubbish hitting someone on the planet below.
Last month it was reported a stuffed toy from the new Lightyear movie has been launched into space from the Peak District.
The toy version of Buzz Lightyear's robot cat, Sox, travelled beyond the Earth's atmosphere before returning to land in Lincolnshire.
The stunt was undertaken by Showcase Cinemas to celebrate the release of Disney and Pixar's new "Lightyear" movie, reported the Manchester Evening News .
Sox was transported into space using what appeared to be a type of propelled balloon, travelling up to 250mph as he broke through the Earth's atmosphere.
Incredible images showed the toy floating around 130,000 feet above the Earth in crisp 4k definition. Following the flight, Sox successfully parachuted back down to earth, landing in the Lincolnshire town of Spalding.
Mark Barlow, UK General Manager of Showcase Cinemas, said: “The new Lightyear film promises to be a favourite this year, following the iconic character that has become much-loved by families across the world.
“To celebrate this, we wanted to do something ‘out of this world’, so what better way than sending the toy version of Sox to infinity and beyond? We can’t wait to welcome visitors to our cinemas to see one of our favourite animated characters of all time back on the big screen, in his very own origin story”.
