A hunk of space debris has turned up in the Australian desert, where it was reportedly found charred and smoking on Saturday. The Australian Space Agency confirmed Monday that the mysterious object, likely a spent rocket part, was discovered smoldering on a remote access road in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, per NBC News. Workers from a nearby mine stumbled across the debris, which authorities believe poses no threat to public safety. While the agency hasn't shared details about the object's size or weight, it described the find as probably a propellant tank or pressure vessel from a launch vehicle.
Investigators are now working with local and international partners to pin down exactly what fell to Earth and which space mission it might have come from. Space analyst Marco Langbroek suspects it is a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV), which contains high-pressure gases and liquids within rockets, per Space.com. He thinks it may have come from the upper stage of a Chinese Jielong 3 rocket that fell back to Earth on Saturday. "It could actually be (a significant part of) the upper stage itself," Langbroek wrote in a blog post.
Incidents like this are rare, given that most space junk burns up in the atmosphere or lands in the ocean. Still, with satellite and rocket launches on the rise, experts have been sounding alarms about the mounting risks of orbital debris. Just last year, a 90-pound chunk of the service module from a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule landed on a North Carolina trail, and in March, a piece of metal released from the International Space Station punched through a home in Florida.
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