Farmer finds piece of space debris in his field

A Saskatchewan farmer found an unusual object in his field that could come from a SpaceX space capsule.

Barry Sawchuk, who farms near Ituna, northeast of Regina, found a giant piece of debris in his field.

The 66-year-old said he was shocked to learn that the debris likely came from a spacecraft.

It’s not every day that you find space debris in your fieldsays Barry Sawchuk.

It was while carrying out humidity tests in his field at the end of April that the farmer discovered this object. His family had never found anything like this on their property before.

Barry Sawchuk says the object looks like a burned piece of carbon fiber with an aluminum structure that resembles a honeycomb inside. It appears that there is also a hydraulic cylinder in this object.

We knew it came from heaven. It couldn’t have gotten there on its own.

One of his sons did some research and concluded that it must be space debris. The family gave an interview to a local newspaper after this discovery.

Possibly a piece of debris SpaceX

Samantha Lawler, associate professor of astronomy at the University of Regina, has seen photos of this piece of debris. She believes it is space junk.

She also sent photos and information about this debris to her colleague Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist from Harvard.

The latter is interested in space launches and believes that this discovery is probably linked to the capsule Dragon of SpaceX.

This spacecraft returned to earth in February with four passengers from the International Space Station.

Jonathan McDowell indicated on social networks that the trajectory of the trunk of the vessel had passed a few kilometers from the Saskatchewan field where the debris was found.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

For its part, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada confirmed that there were no aircraft reports to explain the presence of this object.

More and more space waste

Samantha Lawler explains that SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is used to send people to the International Space Station.

Its trunk, which provides power to the ship during flight and while on station, is ejected when the craft enters the atmosphere.

The chest is then supposed to burn up, but this is not always the case.

In 2022, debris was found on farmland in Australia. The Australian Space Agency confirmed, at the time, that this debris came from a mission of SpaceX.

Objects suspected of being space debris were also found the previous year on a farm in Washington state, United States.

Samantha Lawler believes more debris will land on earth as private companies develop their own space activities. Every rocket, whether carrying people or satellites, leaves behind material in orbit.

The company SpaceX already has more than 5000 satellites.

According to Samantha Lawler, tracking waste in space is hit or miss. She studies the dramatic increase in the number of satellites and its effects on astronomy and atmospheric chemistry.

I’ve been talking about it for five years and now a piece of debris falls an hour from my housesays Samantha Lawler. It’s crazy. This really hits home for me.

With information from The U.S. Press