Possible SpaceX debris falling over Australia from the Crew-1 Dragon spacecraft

Space junk from old SpaceX missions may have landed in rural Australia.

A piece of charred material reportedly left over from the reentry of the SpaceX spacecraft was found in the middle of a sheep paddock near Dalgety; The discovery followed an “explosion” heard by witnesses July 9 local time in the southeast of the country.

SpaceX has yet to confirm whether the pieces were part of its Crew-1 Dragon spacecraft that managed to crash on May 2, 2021. That said, longtime space debris tracker Jonathan McDowell said in twitter (opens in a new tab) Friday (July 29) that Dalgety was actually under the re-entry projection of a piece of unstressed Dragon “stem”, dumped before re-entry.

McDowell added that the photos showed that the debris came from one of the trunk fins. These fins are on the circumference of the rocket to aid aerodynamics during the launch phase of the mission.

Related: SpaceX’s Crew-1 astronaut mission to the International Space Station in this photo

Sheep farmer Mick Miners found the nearly 9-foot (3-meter) high object in the distant part of his paddock Monday (July 25) and had no idea what it was, according to ABC News. (opens in a new tab). After calling neighboring farmer Jock Wallace, he found Wallace saw more debris on his property the week before, on July 21.

Wallace called his local civil aviation authority for advice, who advised him to contact NASA for more information. “I’m a farmer from Dalgety. What would I say to NASA?” Wallace told the ABC.

The debris was most likely an unpressurized “stem” of the spacecraft, astrophysicist Brad Tucker told Space.com. “After going out there and seeing the pieces myself, there was no doubt in my mind that they were space junk,” he said in an email.

The trunk is designed to deliver unstressed cargo into space, and also to support the Crew Dragon during its launch, according to SpaceX (opens in a new tab). Half of the baggage includes solar panels that power the Dragon while the ship is flying or docked at a station. The baggage detached from the spacecraft shortly before re-entering.

A screenshot from the successful launch of SpaceX Crew-1 on May 2, 2021. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The sonic boom, Tucker said, was widely heard at 7:05 a.m. local time on July 9 and the pieces found near Dalgety were “very close to the track tracked from the trunk of the SpaceX-1 Crew.”

The ranch where the pieces were found spans hundreds of acres, which is why it took several weeks for the discovery, Tucker added. “From a distance too, it just looks like an old burnt tree stump. It wasn’t until you got closer that you realized there was something odd about it. The two farmers thought it had been there a few weeks based on the last time they would have gone near it.”

Tucker found at least one part number in one of the pieces and has asked SpaceX to confirm whether it fits the trunk. “After seeing it for myself,” he added, “the way it’s made and the materials are clearly advanced manufacturing. It wasn’t done in someone’s warehouse. You can see the obvious burn marks from re-entry.”

If confirmed to be a Dragon chip, Tucker told the ABC it would be the largest documented space debris in Australia since Skylab broke up over the continent during its uncontrolled re-entry into western Australia in 1979.

NASA’s space station had been open for several years before increasing solar activity unexpectedly “inflated” Earth’s atmosphere, increasing the drag on Skylab. The agency did its best to direct stations to uninhabited areas. Known debris from the incident includes oxygen tanks, hatches and even a storage refrigerator.

Related: Skylab remains: the wreckage of the NASA space station in Australia (pictured)

The potential SpaceX debris is on a relatively small scale compared to the nearly 100 feet (30 meters) China Long March 5B’s core stage which is expected to return to Earth this weekend. After all, the chances of space debris causing problems for Earthlings are slim.

The United States and most international space agencies have practices that regulate how space debris is handled, with America following the government’s Standard Orbital Debris Mitigation Practices. (opens in a new tab).

If the Dalgety wreckage is confirmed, this won’t be the first time a large portion of SpaceX’s hardware has fallen to Earth. Debris from SpaceX’s April 2021 launch surfaced on a farm in central Washington, which at the time was linked to the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. The 2021 debris was confirmed to be SpaceX generated by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office; SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howwellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) and continue Facebook (opens in a new tab).

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