A piece of debris from a SpaceX launch arrived on someone’s farm in central Washington, local authorities reported Friday (April 2) – about a week after the falling rocket debris left reports of ‘shooting stars’ in the US Pacific Northwest originated.
According to the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, the recycled object appears to be a composite overflow pressure vessel, or COPV, belonging to the second phase of the Falcon 9 rocket launched on March 4 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. , on a mission called Starlink 17.
“SpaceX recovered a composite pressure vessel from the Falcon 9 entry last week. It was found this week on private property in southwest Grant County,” the Grant County sheriff wrote. in a statement on Twitterand added that they would not provide the exact location or name of the man on whose property it falls.
“Media and treasure hunters: we do not disclose details. The owner of the property just wants to be left alone,” the sheriff said in the tweet.
Related: Falling SpaceX debris holds up a light show in the air
Although Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered 60 Starlink satellites last month, the second phase of the rocket did not take off properly after completing the mission. The second phase is the smallest, upper part of the Falcon 9 rocket that separates from the main amplifier to take satellites to their intended orbit.
While the main lifter returns to Earth for a landing (so that SpaceX can overhaul it and reuse it at future launches), when the second phase completes its role in the mission, it is deliberately destroyed or left to linger in orbit . Usually it performs a “deorbit combustion” that sends the craft on a safe path to burn up in the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean.
But this time something went wrong: according to Ars Technica, after this launch, there was not enough propellant to ignite the Merlin engine and complete the combustion. The propellant was thus left into space, and the second phase would be a more uncontrolled entry into the atmosphere.
Instead of burning across the ocean, the rocket phase eventually broke up in the air over the Northwest Pacific. Thursday 25 March or midnight EDT (0400 GMT) on Friday 26 March.
The COPV discovered this week on the farm in southwest Grant County is about 1.5 meters long and left an impact mark on the ground that was about 10 to 13 inches deep, reports NBC News. COPVs are used to store helium to pressurize the fuel tanks of the Falcon 9’s top rung.
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Space.com will provide updates as this story unfolds.
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