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Space debris in Australia: "Almost like an extraterrestrial obelisk," quotes the "Guardian" astrophysicist Brad Tucker.
Photo: Cover Images / IMAGO
Sheep farmers had discovered space debris on their farms south of South Wales in Australia last week - the Australian Space Agency (ASA) has now confirmed that the debris from the production of Elon Musk's company SpaceX should belong, as the "Guardian" reports.
Last Thursday, the growers called Australian National University astrophysicist Brad Tucker, the newspaper writes.
Tucker often gets calls because people mistakenly think they've found space junk, but this time it was different.
The sheep farmers would have reported a burned object - the description of which would have fitted a SpaceX fabrication that had re-entered Earth's atmosphere on July 9th.
The astrophysicist assumed the debris came from a Dragon capsule.
The population should not salvage the rubble themselves
"The agency has confirmed that the debris came from a SpaceX mission and remains in contact with our colleagues in the US, as well as with other parts of the Commonwealth and local authorities as appropriate," the Guardian quoted in a spokesman for the ASA in his report.
If the population finds more suspicious pieces of debris, they should not try to salvage them.
A third piece of debris has been found further west since the discovery of the first two pieces of debris, Tucker said, according to the report.
He expects that more people will be able to report finding debris in the near future.
According to Tucker, the capsule did not cause any damage.
By the time it hit Earth's atmosphere, it would have lost most of its speed.
The atmosphere would have absorbed the energy - so the capsule broke apart.
The debris would also not be hot - when passing through the earth's atmosphere, they could only heat up for a comparatively short time.
"It's like taking out a frozen pizza, putting it in the microwave for three seconds, and then putting it back in the freezer — it will actually end up cold."
The Guardian has contacted SpaceX for comment.
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