A Canadian farmer discovered a large charred piece of metal in his field and suspects it may be debris from a SpaceX spacecraft. He plans to sell this debris to contribute to the construction of a hockey rink in his hometown.
The issue of space debris is becoming increasingly common. Just a month after NASA acknowledged that a piece of debris from the International Space Station (ISS) fell on a house in Florida, another massive piece of space debris was found on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. Farmer Barry Sawchuk discovered the 40 kg charred metal piece in his field. Mr. Sawchuk told CBC: “I suspect it is space debris because it has multiple layers of composite fibers and charred straps. But I’m not sure, as I’m a farmer, not a spacecraft manufacturer.”
Information about this suspected space debris reached a group of astronomy professors. They traced the burnt debris back to the re-entry process of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in February. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft departed from the ISS over the Pacific Ocean, west of Ecuador, on February 7 and brought astronauts back to Earth, landing in the ocean off Daytona, Florida, on February 9.
This is not the first time debris suspected to be from SpaceX has fallen into populated areas. (Illustrative image).
This spacecraft includes a reusable crew capsule and a disposable trunk module. The trunk module was separated before Dragon re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and automatically burned up during the descent. According to experts, the trunk module that was discarded before the Axiom-3 crew returned to Earth in February is very likely the piece that fell on the Canadian farm.
This is not the first time debris suspected to be from SpaceX has fallen into populated areas. In July 2022, another charred metal piece was found on agricultural land in Australia, and it was also suspected to have come from the SpaceX Dragon trunk module. As the space industry continues to grow, the risk of being hit by falling spacecraft debris also increases. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), an average of 200 to 400 man-made objects re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere each year, and space agencies typically accept a risk threshold of 1 in 10,000 for casualties from an uncontrolled re-entry.
Previously, in April, NASA acknowledged that a piece of debris from an old battery pallet discarded from the ISS in March 2021 fell through a house in Florida. NASA retrieved this cylindrical debris for analysis, but it is unclear whether SpaceX will do the same due to concerns about liability. However, Canadian farmer Sawchuk seems unconcerned about that. He plans to sell this piece of space debris and donate part of the profits to help build a hockey rink in Saskatchewan.
