Last Wednesday (16), a resident of São Mateus do Sul, Paraná, found what appears to be a fragment of the Falcon 9 rocket, from the manufacturer SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk. The object that hit the rural property was described as a “twisted metal”, about 4 meters long and 6 meters in diameter.
João Ricardo Pacheco Porte, mechanic and farmer, found the material by chance, while touring the family property and, at first, thought it was a tent.
However, upon realizing that the material was metallic, João remembered hearing a noise at dawn on the 8th, the date on which the second stage (part of a space launcher) of the SpaceX rocket returned to the Earth’s atmosphere over the region of Santa Catarina and Paraná, associating, therefore, the events.
According to the analysis of the Brazilian Meteor Observation Network (BRAMON), it was observed that the city of São Mateus do Sul is practically below the re-entry route carried out the previous week and, from that, detailed studies were carried out that compared the images of the object found by João with Musk’s company rocket, reinforcing the similarities and compatibilities between the pieces.
A definitive conclusion is still pending an on-site analysis, however BRAMON believes there is a high possibility that the object found is, in fact, the rocket engine nozzle.
The rocket, which was part of the TÜRKSAT 5B mission, was launched on December 19 of last year from the United States Space Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, aiming to expand broadband data transmission services in Turkey, Middle East. Middle, Europe and some African regions.
After completing the mission, the communications satellite remained in orbit until the 8th of this month, when it returned to the Earth’s atmosphere at 4:36 am.
*With supervision by Giulia Alecrim
Source: CNN Brasil
