By Staff Writer.
A Snowy Mountains farmer has found the fourth piece of space debris confirmed to be from a SpaceX Dragon capsule. The latest discovery on August 13 follows three pieces of SpaceX debris found in the area after the capsule came down in the area in July.
The ABC reports that Tumbarumba cattle farmer Jordan Hobbs found the “hoverboard’ sized debris on his property and initially thought it was rubbish before suspecting it could be connected to other space debris discoveries in the area. The Australian Space Agency recently confirmed that was the case.
SpaceX has remained largely silent on the capsule’s loud re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere in July, but the Snowy Mountains region lies beneath the projected re-entry path of the capsule after a Crew 1 Dragon spacecraft successfully came down on May 2 off the Florida coast.
Multiple Snowy Mountains residents reported hearing a loud bang like a sonic boom on the evening of July 9, after which debris began to be found. The largest was a nearly three-metre-tall piece weighing around 100 kilograms and discovered by a Dalgety farmer later in July.
In an August 29 report by the Australian Government to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNOOSA), the government said the first three pieces of debris were located over a distance of almost 35 kilometres. ANU astrophysicist Brad Tucker told the ABC that the capsule was travelling so fast when it re-entered and broke up that debris could be located over hundreds of kilometres.
Analysis of the debris revealed that it was made of titanium, steel, aluminium, carbon fibre and insulation materials. The first piece weighed around 20 kilograms, the second piece around 100 kilograms, and the third piece around 35 kilograms.
While the government said the debris wasn’t hazardous, Hobbs pointed out it would be if it landed on someone’s rooftop rather than in a paddock.
Despite this, SpaceX never formally acknowledged the July 9 re-entry incident until one month later. Senior director of the SpaceX Human Spaceflight Program Benjamin Reed noted the incident during an August 4 media conference.
“The important news is of course there was no injury or damage,” he said. ” We always look for the ways we can improve things, but this was all within the expected analysed space of what can happen.”
SpaceX officials were said to have visited the Snowy Mountains on August 10 to inspect the debris but did not ask for it back. SpaceX’s relative reticence to acknowledge the incident has been criticised by some as arrogant and secretive.
One of the largest UN committees, UNOOSA has 95 member countries, including Australia. The Australian Government’s relative transparency and formal notification late last month to that committee was considered by some a marked contrast to SpaceX.
Space scientists expect debris from the Dragon capsule to be found for years to come. They note that technically, the debris remains the property of SpaceX. They also say that under international space law there is an obligation on SpaceX to repatriate the debris back to the origin country – in this case, the US. However, at this point, SpaceX has shown no interest in collecting its property.
Image Credit: www.abc.net.au.
