These probabilities also allowed the researchers to work out how likely it is for a piece of falling rocket body to strike a passing aircraft. In their paper, published in Scientific Reports ...

Falling space junk produced by rocket launches poses a risk to the aviation ... challenges of suddenly having to close airspace," added paper author Ewan Wright in a statement.

Falling space junk has already disrupted ... could be steered well clear of the splash zone, as the paper explains: Uncontrolled rocket body reentries are a design choice, not a necessity.