SpaceX cleans up debris on Saskatchewan farms, compensates owners
In Saskatchewan, SpaceX cleaned up space debris that had landed on farmers' fields near Ituna on Tuesday in February of this year. These fragments from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returning from the International Space Station did not burn up in the atmosphere.
The company SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, was responsible for cleaning up space debris that landed on farmers' fields in February near Ituna, in Saskatchewan. These fragments were from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returning from the International Space Station. Unfortunately, not all parts of the spacecraft burned up during re-entry through the atmosphere.
Eight fragments of the spacecraft
Canadian media reported that eight fragments of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft were found on five farms. SpaceX contacted the owners of these farms and offered them financial compensation for the recovered spacecraft remnants. One of the farmers intended to allocate the received funds to support the local hockey rink.
Public television CBC conveyed the words of University of Regina astronomy professor Samantha Lawler, who visited Barry Sawchuk's farm last Tuesday.
Professor Lawler emphasized that SpaceX should provide clear information on how its spacecraft's flights affect the atmosphere and have a clearly defined action plan for similar incidents in the future.
CTV News Regina reported that some recovered fragments were nearly 2 meters long and weighed up to 50 kilograms. Professor Lawler, quoted by CTV News, explained: "SpaceX has over 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit that they claim will burn up completely when they re-enter. That comes to 23 re-entries per day when they are at full capacity. If those re-entries are all making it to the ground, dropping hundred-pound pieces of garbage, that will kill lots of people."
The Canadian Press highlighted that journalists often have difficulty getting responses from SpaceX.
In May of this year, CBC reported that Sawchuk had found pieces of scorched metal in his field and had contacted the University of Regina about it. Astronomers recalled similar large metal fragments previously found in Australia and Washington state and a fragment that destroyed a house roof in Florida.
They concluded that the metal found in Saskatchewan was also space debris and, based on their calculations, identified it as coming from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
