Originally published in Scientific American.
Samantha Lawler He is an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Regina.
On a typical Thursday afternoon, May 9, I received an email that seemed to come out of nowhere. It was from a journalist who wanted me, an astronomer, to interview a farmer who had discovered space debris while preparing his fields for spring sowing. The farmer was just an hour’s drive from my home in Saskatchewan. “Sure,” I said to myself, typing in the affirmative. The chances of space debris impacting a specific location on Earth were already pretty high, so the chances of it happening in the backyard of someone like me who studies this problem were astronomically low and seemed far-fetched.
A quick check of my news feed proved me wrong. One of the top stories was about a space junk collision, even featuring a photo of farmer Barry Sawchuk standing next to what appeared to be a charred and damaged lorry hood covered in carbon fiber weaves and slightly melted aluminium protrusions. My jaw dropped in shock. The object looked identical to a piece of debris that fell on an Australian sheep farm in 2022 and was later retrieved by US aerospace company SpaceX. Hospitalized It was part of the cargo trunk of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. This “trunk” is actually about the size of a small grain silo, and is thought to be released in orbit long before the spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere, where it will re-enter the atmosphere naturally and chaotically, burning up completely.
To confirm my hunch, I immediately emailed my collaborator, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He said that perhaps Best Public Databases McDowell responded within minutes to questions about the launch, re-entry and other space activities, sending along an image depicting the path of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon’s trunk as it was ejected. Axiom 3 A private astronaut mission re-entered the Canadian prairies on February 26, 2024. My hunch was confirmed.
As an astronomer, I already had good reason to be worried about SpaceX. The company has launched a vast array of Starlink internet broadband satellites since 2019, with more than 6,000 in orbit and as many as 42,000 planned. As Starlink grows, along with competing plans for other satellite “megaconstellations,” my telescope data and the vast, grassy skies will likely become even more volatile. Bright and easy to see satellites As many astronomers (including me) have WarnedBut beyond this destructive light pollution, new research shows: Air pollution is on the rise A dramatic increase in launches and reentries led by SpaceX Potentially devastating global impactsAluminum oxide produced by satellites sublimating in Earth’s upper atmosphere turns out to be a catalyst for a powerful, persistent chemical reaction similar to the famous one that tore a gaping hole in Earth’s delicate radiation-blocking ozone layer in the 20th century.
We were lucky enough to escape. Urban Light Pollution Too often, we are bystanders to the pollution of our skies. We look up, are overwhelmed, and then look away. But this latest incident, where my neighbors are being showered with dangerous debris because of this company’s activities, somehow felt more personal. So I decided to take action and hold SpaceX accountable.
The farmer got Sawchuk’s phone number from a journalist who had contacted me, and he was busy sowing seeds in the cab of his tractor when he received the call. He said he was very upset that SpaceX had been allowed to dump orbital debris on his farm, and thought the best response was to get his story published in the news media. But his initial reaction was muted; most journalists hadn’t pursued the story of a rural Saskatchewan farmer who’d found space debris in priority. Sawchuk gave me permission to give his phone number to the curious, but with one condition: “I don’t respond to text messages while I’m driving my tractor!” I began brainstorming a list of every space law and orbital debris expert I could think of to ask for advice.
