Astronomy:List of space debris fall incidents

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Main page: Astronomy:Space debris
Cylindrical rocket fragment on sand, with men looking at it
Saudi officials inspect a crashed PAM-D module in January 2001.

Space debris usually burns up in the atmosphere, but larger debris objects can reach the ground intact. According to NASA, an average of one cataloged piece of debris has fallen back to Earth each day for the past 50 years. Despite their size, there has been no significant property damage from the debris.[1] Burning up in the atmosphere may also contribute to atmospheric pollution.[2] Numerous small cylindrical tanks from space objects have been found, designed to hold fuel or gasses.[3]

Notable examples of space debris falling to Earth and impacting human life include:

1960s-1990s

  • 1969: five sailors on a Japanese ship were injured when space debris from what was believed to be a Soviet spacecraft struck the deck of their boat.[4]
  • 1978: the Soviet reconnaissance satellite Kosmos 954 reentered the atmosphere over northwest Canada and scattered radioactive debris over northern Canada, some landing in the Great Slave Lake.[4]
  • 1979: portions of Skylab came down over Australia, and several pieces landed in the area around the Shire of Esperance, which fined NASA $400 for littering.[4]
  • 1987: a 7-foot strip of metal from the Soviet Kosmos 1890 rocket landed between two homes in Lakeport, California, causing no damage.
  • 1991: Salyut 7 underwent an uncontrolled reentry on 7 February over the city of Capitán Bermúdez in Argentina.[5]
  • 1997: an Oklahoma woman, Lottie Williams, was hit, without injury in the shoulder by a 10 cm × 13 cm (3.9 in × 5.1 in) piece of blackened, woven metallic material confirmed as part of the propellant tank of a Delta II rocket which launched a U.S. Air Force satellite the year before.[6][7]

From 2000

  • 2001: a Star 48 Payload Assist Module (PAM-D) rocket upper stage re-entered the atmosphere after a "catastrophic orbital decay",[8] crashing in the Saudi Arabian desert. It was identified as the upper-stage rocket for NAVSTAR 32, a GPS satellite launched in 1993.[9]
  • 2002: 6-year-old boy Wu Jie became the first person to be injured by direct impact from space debris. He suffered a fractured toe and a swelling on his forehead after a block of aluminum, 80 centimeters by 50 centimeters and weighing 10 kilograms, from the outer shell of the Resource Second satellite struck him as he sat beneath a persimmon tree in the Shaanxi province of China.[3]
  • 2003: Columbia disaster, large parts of the spacecraft reached the ground and entire equipment systems remained intact.[10] More than 83,000 pieces, along with the remains of the six astronauts, were recovered in an area from three to ten miles around Hemphill in Sabine County, Texas.[11] More pieces were found in a line from west Texas to east Louisiana, with the westernmost piece found in Littlefield, TX and the easternmost found southwest of Mora, Louisiana.[12] Debris was found in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. In a rare case of property damage, a foot-long metal bracket smashed through the roof of a dentist office.[13] NASA warned the public to avoid contact with the debris because of the possible presence of hazardous chemicals.[14] 15 years after the failure, people were still sending in pieces with the most recent, as of February 2018, found in the spring of 2017.[15]
  • 2007: airborne debris from a Russian spy satellite was seen by the pilot of a LAN Airlines Airbus A340 carrying 270 passengers whilst flying over the Pacific Ocean between Santiago and Auckland. The debris was reported within 9.3 kilometres (5 nmi) of the aircraft.[16]
  • 2016: on 2 November, upper stage of Vega flight VV01 launched on 13 February 2012 reentered over Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A composite overwrapped pressure vessel survived reentry and was recovered.[17][18][19][20]
  • 2020: The empty core stage of a Long March-5B rocket made an uncontrolled re-entry - the largest object to do so since the Soviet Union's 39-ton Salyut 7 space station in 1991 – over Africa and the Atlantic Ocean and a 12-meter-long pipe originating from the rocket crashed into the village of Mahounou in Côte d'Ivoire.[21]
  • 2021:
    • A Falcon 9 second stage made an uncontrolled re-entry over Washington state on March 25, producing a widely seen "light show".[22] SpaceX retrieved a piece of debris, a composite-overwrapped pressure vessel, that landed on a farm in Washington.[23] Another piece of debris, likely a pressure vessel as well, also survived the re-entry and washed up ashore in Oregon.[24]
    • In September 2021 a high-pressure helium bottle weighing 50 kg from the aft end of the Centaur upper stage of an Atlas V rocket (international designator 2019 -094A) was discovered in south-eastern Australia near the town of Yambuk, Victoria.[25]
  • 2022:
    • On 2 April, pieces of reentered space debris impacted multiple locations in Indian state of Maharashtra, the event of reentry was witnessed by many. Recovered debris consisted of metallic ring almost 3 meter in diameter along at least six composite overwrapped pressure vessels with some bearing '3CCA301001 B' marking. The debris is likely from third stage of Long March 3B rocket with Y77 serial, launched in February 2021.[26][27][28][29]
    • A month later on 12 May another incidence of space debris reentry and impact was reported over Indian state of Gujarat, surviving debris consisted of metal fragments and at least three composite overwrapped pressure vessels. Allegedly the falling debris killed a livestock animal and injured another as one metal fragment struck a sheep pen. The debris is likely from third stage of Long March 3B rocket with Y86 serial, launched in September 2021.[30][31][32] Indian space agency ISRO is investigating both incidents.
    • On 9 July 2022, trunk of SpaceX Crew-1 Dragon spacecraft reentered and its debris landed on multiple locations like Albury, Wagga Wagga and Canberra in New South Wales, Australia.[33][34][35] Australia notified United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space about three pieces of recovered debris under Rescue Agreement on 26 August 2022.[36]
    • On 31 July 2022, empty core stage of Long March-5B made an uncontrolled reentry over Indonesia and Malaysia.[37][38][39] The reentry was witnessed by many and later pieces of booster that survived reentry were recovered from multiple locations in Indonesia and Malaysia.[40][41][42]
  • 2023:
    • On 27 April 2023, a space debris object bearing a pattern resembling Chinese national flag as well as a marking of "ventilation duct" in Chinese character was found on beach in Okinoerabu Island, Kagoshima Prefecture of Japan.[43]
    • On 16 July 2023, A composite motor case likely to be from third stage of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle was found near Western Australian coast near Greenhead.[44][45][46][47]

References

  1. ↑ Brown, M. (2012). Orbital Debris Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/faq.html .
  2. ↑ Brown, Mike (27 May 2021). "SpaceX Starlink: how it could kickstart an 'uncontrolled experiment'". Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-could-cause-geoengineering. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "History of Space and Launch Debris Recoveries". 2 July 2022. https://pauldmaley.com/sd1/. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, "Orbiting Debris: A Space Environmental Problem" , Background Paper, OTA-BP-ISC-72, U.S. Government Printing Office, September 1990, p. 3
  5. ↑ McQuiston, John T. (7 February 1991). "Salyut 7, Soviet Station in Space, Falls to Earth After 9-Year Orbit". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/07/world/salyut-7-soviet-station-in-space-falls-to-earth-after-9-year-orbit.html. 
  6. ↑ "Today in Science History" todayinsci.com. Retrieved 8 March 2006.
  7. ↑ Tony Long, "Jan. 22, 1997: Heads Up, Lottie! It's Space Junk!" , wired, 22 January 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2016
  8. ↑ "PAM-D Debris Falls in Saudi Arabia" , The Orbital Debris Quarterly News, Volume 6 Issue 2 (April 2001).
  9. ↑ "The Orbital Debris Quarterly News". NASA Orbital Debris Program Office. April 2001. https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/quarterly-news/pdfs/odqnv6i2.pdf. 
  10. ↑ "Debris Photos" NASA.
  11. ↑ Wallach, Dan (1 February 2016). "Columbia shuttle tragedy marks Sabine County town". https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Columbia-shuttle-tragedy-marks-Sabine-County-town-6798276.php. 
  12. ↑ "Columbia Accident Investigation Report, Volume II Appendix D.10". https://caib1.nasa.gov/news/report/pdf/vol2/part10.pdf. 
  13. ↑ "Shuttle Debris Falls on East Texas, Louisiana". 1 February 2003. http://www.foxnews.com/story/2003/02/01/shuttle-debris-falls-on-east-texas-louisiana.html. 
  14. ↑ "Debris Warning" NASA.
  15. ↑ "Debris from fallen space shuttle Columbia has new mission 15 years after tragedy". 1 February 2018. http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-020118a-columbia-debris-lessons-learned.html. 
  16. ↑ Jano Gibson, "Jet's flaming space junk scare" , The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 2007.
  17. ↑ DailyThanthi. "ஒட்டன்சத்திரம் அருகே வானத்தில் இருந்து விழுந்தது ஐரோப்பாவுக்கு சொந்தமான ராக்கெட்டின் பாகம் இஸ்ரோ விஞ்ஞானி 'தினத்தந்தி'க்கு பேட்டி" (in TA-IN). http://www.dailythanthi.com/News/Districts/dindugal/2016/11/21014729/Fell-from-the-skyPart-of-Europe-owned-rocketISRO-scientist.vpf. 
  18. ↑ "ஒட்டன்சத்திரம் அருகே விண்ணிலிருந்து விழுந்த மர்மப் பொருள்" (in ta). https://www.dinamani.com/tamilnadu/2016/nov/03/ஒட்டன்சத்திரம்-அருகே-விண்ணிலிருந்து-விழுந்த-மர்மப்-பொருள்-2591344.html. 
  19. ↑ "ஒட்டன்சத்திரம், கரூர் அருகே வானில் இருந்து விழுந்த மர்மப் பொருள்" (in ta). https://www.hindutamil.in/news/tamilnadu/87342-.html. 
  20. ↑ "'Mysterious' object falls from sky in Tamil Nadu village" (in en). 2016-11-11. https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/mysterious-object-falls-from-sky-in-tamil-nadu-village-4370485/. 
  21. ↑ O'Callaghan, Jonathan (12 May 2020). "Chinese Rocket Debris May Have Fallen On Villages In The Ivory Coast After An Uncontrolled Re-Entry". https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2020/05/12/parts-of-a-chinese-rocket-may-have-fallen-on-an-african-village/?sh=51d7306065a2. 
  22. ↑ "A Falcon 9 rocket making an uncontrolled re-entry looked like an alien armada". March 26, 2021. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/03/a-falcon-9-rockets-second-stage-just-burnt-up-over-seattle/. 
  23. ↑ "Piece of SpaceX rocket debris lands at Washington state farm". April 3, 2021. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-piece-spacex-rocket-debris-washington.html. 
  24. ↑ Machemer, Theresa (2021-04-13). "After a Fiery Display, SpaceX Debris Landed on a Washington Farm". https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/after-fiery-display-spacex-debris-landed-washington-farm-180977494/. 
  25. ↑ "A/AC.105/1286 - Notification by Australia under the Rescue Agreement concerning the recovery of a component part of a space object". https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/oosadoc/data/documents/2022/aac.105/aac.1051286_0.html. 
  26. ↑ "India examining crashed space debris suspected to be parts of China's Long March rocket" (in en-US). 2022-04-19. https://spacenews.com/india-examining-crashed-space-debris-suspected-to-be-parts-of-chinas-long-march-rocket/. 
  27. ↑ "आकाशातून पडले होते आगीचे गोळे, इस्रोचे शास्त्रज्ञ चंद्रपूर जिल्ह्यात दाखल; तपासणीसाठी ताब्यात घेतल्या वस्तू" (in mr). 2022-04-08. https://www.tv9marathi.com/maharashtra/other-district/fireballs-fell-from-the-sky-isro-scientists-arrived-in-chandrapur-district-items-seized-for-investigation-681448.html. 
  28. ↑ "Last year's Chinese rocket stage reenters over Maharashtra, MP producing a spectacular display" (in en-US). 2022-04-03. https://theprint.in/science/last-years-chinese-rocket-stage-reenters-over-maharashtra-mp-producing-a-spectacular-display/900186/. 
  29. ↑ "2 ISRO scientists visit Sindewahi" (in en). https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2022/4/9/2-ISRO-scientists-visit-Sindewahi.html. 
  30. ↑ "India hit by more suspected space debris" (in en-US). 2022-05-16. https://spacenews.com/india-hit-by-more-suspected-space-debris/. 
  31. ↑ "Skyfall in Gujarat, expert says likely debris of a Chinese rocket" (in en). 2022-05-17. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/baroda/skyfall-in-gujarat-expert-says-likely-debris-of-a-chinese-rocket-7920931/. 
  32. ↑ "Suspected space vehicle pieces fall in Gujarat villages; ISRO lab report awaited" (in en). 2022-05-16. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/suspected-space-vehicle-pieces-fall-in-gujarat-villages-isro-lab-report-awaited-7920683/. 
  33. ↑ Tucker, Brad (2022-07-30). "The biggest piece of space junk to hit Australia in 40 years might not be the last" (in en-AU). https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7840598/the-biggest-piece-of-space-junk-to-hit-australia-in-40-years-might-not-be-the-last/. 
  34. ↑ "Astrophysicist believes piece of debris found in a sheep paddock is space junk" (in en-AU). ABC News. 2022-07-29. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-29/space-junk-found-in-nsw-snowy-mountains-paddocks-/101277542. 
  35. ↑ "Space agency confirms rocket remnants in sheep paddock belong to SpaceX" (in en-AU). ABC News. 2022-08-03. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-03/space-x-debris-sheep-paddock-australian-space-agency/101295488. 
  36. ↑ "A/AC.105/1221 - Notification by Australia under the Rescue Agreement concerning the recovery of three component parts of a space object". https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/oosadoc/data/documents/2022/aac.105/aac.1051281_0.html. 
  37. ↑ Leong, Adeline. "Rocket Debris Punctured House Roof In Sibu, Allegedly From China's Long March Rocket". https://www.therakyatpost.com/news/2022/08/14/rocket-debris-punctured-house-roof-in-sibu-allegedly-from-chinas-long-march-rocket/. 
  38. ↑ Agencies (2022-07-31). "Nasa criticises China after space rocket makes uncontrolled return to Earth" (in en). https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/31/nasa-criticises-china-after-space-rocket-makes-uncontrolled-return-to-earth. 
  39. ↑ "Public advisory on the re-entry of Long March 5B debris" (in en). https://philsa.gov.ph/news/public-advisory-on-the-re-entry-of-long-march-5b-debris/. 
  40. ↑ "Chinese rocket re-entry: suspected debris lands in Malaysia and Indonesia" (in en). 2022-08-02. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/02/chinese-china-rocket-re-entry-suspected-space-debris-lands-malaysia-indonesia. 
  41. ↑ "Mystery wreckage in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippines is probably fallen Chinese rocket parts, space-debris experts say". https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/mystery-wreckage-in-malaysia-indonesia-and-philippines-is-probably-fallen-chinese-rocket-parts-space-debris-experts-say/articleshow/93378953.cms. 
  42. ↑ Mangosing, Frances (2022-08-03). "Chinese rocket debris found near Mindoro Strait" (in en). https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1639723/chinese-rocket-debris-found-near-mindoro-strait. 
  43. ↑ "A/AC.105/1296 - Notification by Japan under the Rescue Agreement concerning the recovery of a space object". https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/oosadoc/data/documents/2023/aac.105/aac.1051296_0.html. 
  44. ↑ "Redditors reckon they’ve SOLVED mystery objects’ origin" (in en). 2023-07-17. https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/offbeat/reddit-reckons-it-has-solved-was-unidentified-floating-object-mystery-c-11306280. 
  45. ↑ Fizrock (2023-07-16). "This is the third st…". http://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/1515q3w/found_on_a_beach_in_western_australia/js6wa7z/. 
  46. ↑ "Australian Space Agency says mysterious item on WA beach could be 'foreign' rocket part" (in en-AU). ABC News. 2023-07-17. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-17/police-investigate-green-head-beach-mystery-item/102610686. 
  47. ↑ Rachwani, Mostafa (2023-07-17). "Mystery object: Australian police warn public away from huge cylinder found washed up on WA beach" (in en-GB). The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/17/mystery-object-wa-beach-green-head-western-australia. 

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