Europe Asia News

The ZQ-3 R/B space rocket weighs eleven tons and is up to thirteen meters long. The second stage of the rocket, launched in December 2025, is expected to re-enter the atmosphere on Friday at 11:40 a.m. Turkish time.

However, due to the instability of the object, the estimated time window may vary by up to around ten hours.

The Institute is monitoring the rocket’s uncontrolled descent together with the European Union’s Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) network.

Parts of the second stage are expected to fall over southern Denmark and the Baltic states, which could affect air traffic.

This is not the first instance of uncontrolled falls of space rockets from China. In July 2022, parts of China’s Long March 5B rocket fell into the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

China has been asked to design rockets that break up during re-entry, in line with international norms.

However, uncontrolled falling space debris is not particularly unusual. In February last year, parts of the Falcon 9 rocket produced by the U.S. space company SpaceX fell in Poland.