Posted: 02:29, August 1, 2022 | Updated: 07:35, 1 August 2022
A huge piece of space junk from a spacecraft flown by Elon Musk’s SpaceX has crashed onto a farmer’s property in the Snowy Mountains of NSW.
The three-metre object – a piece of a SpaceX Crew-1 spacecraft – was discovered on the ground on a property south of Jindabyne after farmer Mick Miners went to investigate a loud bang heard by his daughters.
Australian National University space expert Brad Tucker told radio host Ben Fordham he was called in to investigate the discovery.
“This is definitely space junk that was part of the SpaceX Crew-1 trunk,” he told Ben Fordham Live on Monday morning.
“SpaceX has this capsule that takes people into space, but there’s a bottom … so when the astronauts come back, they leave the bottom in space before the capsule lands.”
Farmer Mick Miners (pictured) discovered the huge piece of space junk stuck on his property in the Snowy Mountains, south of Jindabyne
Australian National University space expert Brad Tucker confirmed he was part of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew-1 (pictured)
Mr Tucker said the segment had been in space since November 2020 and had begun to drift away from orbit.
“There was a plan to come down to Earth and deliberately hit the Earth’s atmosphere so it would break up and land in the ocean,” he said.
It is understood scores of people in southern NSW saw an explosion and heard a loud bang when it fell on Mr Miners’ farm.
“We saw most of the chunks land in the ocean, but apparently some hadn’t because this three-metre chunk was blasted to the ground from space,” Mr Tucker said.
He said the object had landed a long way from Mr Miners home, which is why it took some time to locate it.
“From a distance it almost looks like a tree, like a burnt tree, and then you get closer and you realize, ‘It’s not right,’” Mr Tucker said.
Mr Miners neighbor Jock also had a piece of space junk on his property.
“The Australian Space Agency is handling it now because there’s actually a legal protocol … so technically it’s still SpaceX,” Mr Tucker said.
The Australian Space Agency is now handling the recovery of the junk – a piece of a Crew-1 spacecraft (pictured) thrown by Elon Musk’s SpaceX
“We’re guessing they don’t want it back because the whole point was to break it in the ocean.
“Now if SpaceX said they want it back, then they basically have to pay Mick and Jock to get it all back.
“However, if they are able to keep it, they have options such as giving it to a museum, selling it on eBay.”
Mr Tucker said there would be plenty of people who would want to collect space junk.
“They get a small tidy sum for all the trouble they’ve gone through,” he said.
