Suspicious wreckage of SpaceX capsule crashes into farmland in Australia.
After being surprised by an explosion around 7am on Saturday, two farmers in New South Wales discovered what appeared to be space equipment scattered around their sheep paddocks.
Part of what is suspected to be a SpaceX capsule crashed into farmland in Australia, according to farmers and an astrophysicist.
After being surprised by an explosion around 7 a.m. Saturday, two farmers discovered what appeared to be space equipment scattered around their sheep paddocks.
Sheep farmer Jock Wallace initially called Australia’s civil aviation authority for guidance, but was advised to contact NASA.
Wallace and his neighbor Mick Miners turned to Dr. Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, for help.
“At 7 a.m. local time, the SpaceX Crew-1 Trunk, which is the unpressurized lower part of the capsule, SpaceX capsule crashes was cataloged and tracked for re-entry through the southern parts of New South Wales in Australia,”.
Similar in appearance to a monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the space debris is nearly three meters tall and was found wedged into the ground.
According to astronomer Jonathan McDowell, the small New South Wales, where it was found, is almost perfectly aligned with this log’s re-entry path.
Dr Tucker said: “At that moment, people in the area heard a sonic boom SpaceX capsule crashes as the trunk entered the atmosphere. People also saw it break apart, a characteristic of space debris.”
“Upon inspection, scorching patterns can be seen,” said Dr. Tucker, adding that the “composition of the object matches that of the space team.”
“Parts can also be visually compared to images and parts of the trunk,” he added.
Fortunately, the material hit Earth a long way from the residential property of farmers and livestock.
Space debris re-entry is a controversial topic, with the US and China trading scathing criticism over the uncontrolled re-entry of China’s Long March-5B booster this weekend.