On the night of September 20, 2025, a brilliant streak of light lit up the sky over Delhi-NCR. While many initially thought it was a meteor shower, experts now believe it was most likely debris from China’s Long March-3B rocket stage, re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. 

So why was this event not predicted in advance? First, space debris re-entries are notoriously hard to forecast with precision: size, shape, mass, spin, altitude, and atmospheric drag all affect how and when an object will burn up. Even with good orbital data, such parameters often have large uncertainties. Second, many meteors (especially bright, isolated "bolide" events) are too small to be tracked long before they enter the atmosphere. The existing telescopes and radar systems are better at tracking larger Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), not every small rock or debris fragment.

India does have growing capability. ISRO’s project NETRA (Network for space object Tracking and Analysis) aims to monitor space debris and near-Earth objects. Also, India’s GROWTH-India robotic telescope in Ladakh is monitoring fast transients and NEOs. 

Should we be worried? For now, no major risk: most fireballs disintegrate well before reaching ground. The bigger concern is space debris and larger NEOs which, if untracked, could cause damage. Strengthening tracking, improving forecasts, and sharing data internationally are important steps.