After fireballs streaked across sky, space-junk sleuths got busy and hit the jackpot in Washington By Dominic Gates, , The Seattle Times (TNS),
Published: April 22, 2021, 8:25pm
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People across the Pacific Northwest were awed on the evening of March 25 by an otherworldly formation of fireballs that streaked across the heavens, causing a social media sensation. Astronomers promptly demystified it as debris from a falling SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Though such wayward rockets generally burn up in the atmosphere, this time substantial chunks fell to earth in Eastern Washington. At least one came uncomfortably close to hitting people.
Yet neither SpaceX nor the various federal agencies with some role in tracking space junk the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the U.S. Space Force investigated what happened on the ground.
After fireballs streaked across sky, space-junk sleuths got busy and hit the jackpot in Washington [The Seattle Times]
Apr. 22 People across the Pacific Northwest were awed on the evening of March 25 by an otherworldly formation of fireballs that streaked across the heavens, causing a social media sensation. Astronomers promptly demystified it as debris from a falling SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Though such wayward rockets generally burn up in the atmosphere, this time substantial chunks fell to earth in Eastern Washington. At least one came uncomfortably close to hitting people.
Yet neither SpaceX nor the various federal agencies with some role in tracking space junk the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the U.S. Space Force investigated what happened on the ground.
The efforts have sparked the creation of an app that collects eyewitness reports and triangulates their location data, paired with an expert analysis of the data from the area’s relevant weather radars.<br/>
Space-Junk Sleuths Scramble to Collect Debris from Falling Falcon 9 Rocket
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, March 4, 2021. The rocket is carrying a batch of 60 Starlink satellites. (Craig Bailey/Florida Today via AP)
22 Apr 2021
People across the Pacific Northwest were awed on the evening of March 25 by an otherworldly formation of fireballs that streaked across the heavens, causing a social media sensation. Astronomers promptly demystified it as debris from a falling SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Though such wayward rockets generally burn up in the atmosphere, this time substantial chunks fell to earth in Eastern Washington. At least one came uncomfortably close to hitting people.
By DAVID BITTON | The Gazette | Published: April 6, 2021
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