image sources, Getty Images
When Mick Miners, a farmer from New South Wales in southeastern Australia, first saw the large black object rising out of the ground on part of his land, he thought it was was a dead tree.
But on closer inspection and after checking by a few experts, he found out that it was something that had fallen from space
The Australian Space Agency (ASA) later said it came from a SpaceX capsulebillionaire Elon Musk’s firm.
Specialists described the discovery as “rare” and “syouthrilling”but said such occurrences may become more frequent in the near future.
The object fell on July 9 in the area, but was not discovered by farmer Mick Miners until several weeks later.
Two more pieces were later found nearby, and the ASA asked anyone who finds more items to contact a special SpaceX debris hotline.
Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, was called in to examine the farm object.
He is often called upon to conduct similar investigations, the vast majority of which result in exhibits that are not space junk.
“It was super exciting to see it all up close. I’ve never seen space junk fall like this“, he said in a video.
image sources, Getty Images
Most space debris falls into the sea.
Don Pollacco, professor of astrophysics at the University of Warwick in the UK, agreed that it was very rare for space debris to land.
He explained that as they fall from space to Earth every day, the vast majority have an impact on the oceansas these cover most of the planet.
Additionally, the only recorded case of an affected person was Lottie Williams, who was uninjured when a piece of space junk landed on her shoulder in Oklahoma, United States, in 1997.
Other incidents include damage to buildings in Ivory Coast in 2020 by pieces from a Chinese rocket.
However, finds on land may become more commonespecially since the number of rockets sent into space has increased enormously in recent years.
image sources, Reuters
Launching private company rockets into orbit will generate more space debris, experts say.
The Sun is also entering a more active cycle, Prof Pollacco added, creating a ripple effect that brings more debris down to Earth.
Perhaps more concerning is a study by the Canadian University of British Columbia, published in July, which found that there was a 10% chance that one or more people would die from space debris in the next decade.
But Professor Pollacco says that the possibility of an injured person is still “almost zero”.
“I don’t think people should be scared. The risk of being hit by one of these objects is incredibly low,” he said.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
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