image source, Getty Images
When Mick Miners, a farmer from New South Wales in southeastern Australia, first saw the large black body emerging from the ground on part of his land, he thought it was a dead tree.
But when looking at it closely and after checking by some experts, he discovered that it was something fell from space
The Australian Space Agency (ASA) later said it came from a SpaceX capsuleBillionaire Elon Musk’s company.
Specialists described the discovery as “rare” andsorinteresting “But he said such events may become more common 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 found more objects to call SpaceX’s debris hotline.
Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University, was called in to examine the farm’s body.
It is often called upon to conduct similar investigations, in the vast majority of which it produces pieces that are not space debris.
“It was very exciting to see all of this up close. I’ve never seen a piece of space junk fall like thisHe said in a video.
image source, Getty Images
Most space debris is located in the sea.
Don Polaco, professor of astrophysics at the University of Warwick, UK, agreed that it’s very rare for space debris to make landfall.
He explained that as they fall from space to Earth every day, The vast majority affect the oceansbecause these cover most of the planet.
Also, the only recorded case of a person being hit was Lottie Williams, who was unharmed when a piece of junk space fell on her shoulder in Oklahoma, USA, in 1997.
Other incidents include damage to buildings in Côte d’Ivoire in 2020 by the cutting of a Chinese missile.
However, the results on the ground It may become more commonEspecially since the number of rockets sent into space has increased significantly in recent years.
image source, Reuters
Experts say that launching rockets from private companies into orbit will generate more space debris.
Professor Polaco added that the sun is also moving into a more active cycle, creating a spillover effect that causes more debris to fall to Earth.
Perhaps most worrisome is a study from Canada’s University of British Columbia, published in July, that found there is a 10% chance that one or more people will die from space debris in the next decade.
But Professor Polaco says that Possibility Who is still infected “almost zero”.
“I don’t think people should be afraid,” he said. “The chance of hitting one of these things is incredibly small.”
SpaceX did not immediately respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
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