A large object from outer space has landed on your farm

Last week Mick Miners was herding sheep in a four-wheeled vehicle when he tripped over a sharp black object that appeared to be over 9 feet tall.

reminded him of a burnt tree or a piece of agricultural machine.

“Pretty scary, actually,” Miners, 48, told the phone from his 2,000-acre property in a remote corner of southeastern Australia.

“I was quite surprised,” he added.

“It’s not something you see every day on a sheep farm.”

The miners took a picture and sent it to a nearby farmer, Jock Wallace, who had discovered an equally mysterious object on his farm a few days earlier.

It was space junk.

This was stated by the American space agency, NASA SpaceX confirmed that the object was probably the remainder of the trunk segment discarded of a spaceship Dragon used during the return of the Crew-1 mission from the International Space Station in May of last year.

“If you think you’ve identified a piece of debris, don’t try to manipulate or recover the debris, “NASA said.

Space debris refers to equipment in space that no longer works.

Most space debris burns when it reenters the atmosphere, and much of what remains often falls into the ocean.

However, with more spacecraft entering orbit, such as those of private companies like SpaceX, which was founded by Elon Musk, ground impacts can occur more frequently. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said it’s not uncommon to find space debris on the ground after a uncontrolled return.

“I was a little surprised that much of the trunk survived the reentry warming process,” McDowell said, but added that there was no indication that there was anything particularly risky.

He said that in the new commercial era for space exploration, it has been much more difficult to obtain technical information from private companies to assess risk.

With more information, “could we have a better rating than ‘Are we really unlucky or should we expect this from all rocket returns if they happen over land?'”

The rocket’s trunk segment, which is used to carry cargo and also includes the spacecraft’s solar panels and radiators, is ejected from the capsule body shortly after combustion is complete as it exits orbit.

“It usually burns in the atmosphere above the open ocean, which represents a minimal risk for public safety, “the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

Last week, after debris from a large Chinese rocket re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, the administrator of the POTBill Nelson issued a reprimand, saying China “did not share specific trajectory information when its Long March 5B rocket crashed to Earth.”

He added that all countries should “share this type of information with anticipation to enable reliable predictions of the potential risk of debris impact, particularly for heavy vehicles, such as the Long March 5B, which carry a significant risk of loss of life and property ”.

The possibility that debris from the rocket hit a populated area has led people around the world to track its trajectory for days.

This was the third flight of the Long March 5B, the largest Chinese rocket, which made what is called a “uncontrolled return“Back to Earth.

Last year, a malfunction caused a rocket stage SpaceX it completed an uncontrolled reentry into Earth’s atmosphere near Seattle in what appeared to be luminous objects illuminating the night sky.

Pieces of debris from the burning rocket fell on a farmer’s property in Washington state.

The debris had re-entered the atmosphere after 22 days in orbit.

The rural area of ​​Australia where miners discovered space debris on July 25 is approximately 100 miles south of the capital, Canberra.

Ron Lane, owner of a restaurant in Dalgety City, said most people in the area, with the notable exception of himself, There were not particularly worried the possibility of more space debris falling on them or their homes.

“If there are three that we know of, there may be others. 10 we don’t knowLane said on the phone from his restaurant, Tuscany In Dalgety.

The miners, who were born on the farm where he discovered the unidentified debris, said his neighbor, Wallace, had called authorities to report other debris he had found on his property in early July.

Public interest grew, Miners said, after Wallace called the Australian national broadcaster, which later reported on the farmers’ findings, saying three pieces of debris had been found.

“Then everyone found out and I got some 300 callssaid Miners, who has about 5,500 sheep, 100 cattle and 30 horses on his farm in the Numbla Vale district.

His own piece of rubble is nearly 3 meters by 40 centimeters high

An Australian Space Agency official called Thursday to say its experts were planning to visit his property next week to “take a look”.

The miners said so far they had enjoyed learning the preliminary details about how the debris fell and were unsure what would happen next.

I said I would be “happy to keep it“, but that he was also interested in” a small fee “if the space agencies or the company wanted him back.

Sa’id Mosteshar, a professor of international space law and director of the London Institute of Space Law and Policy, said a person could only seek compensation if the debris damaged them or caused them some harm. property.

“I guess they’ll want it back,” Miners added.

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Like I said, I’m a sheep farmer.

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