SpaceX: Debris from a Falcon 9 crashes in Poland
Parts of a Falcon 9 rocket have crashed to earth in an uncontrolled manner. An expert is concerned about the accumulation of incidents at SpaceX.
Launch of a Falcon 9: Impact with the earth at a speed of several hundred km/h
(Image: Evan El-Amin/Shutterstock)
Fireworks over Europe: trails of objects burning up in the Earth's atmosphere could be seen in the sky over several European countries. It was presumably debris from a Falcon 9 rocket from the US space company SpaceX.
Several larger pieces of debris came down in Poland, as a video published on the social media platform X shows. The phenomenon could also be seen over Denmark, Sweden, and the UK.
In Komorniki near Poznan, for example, a tank measuring 1 by 1.5 meters was found, reports the BBC. An identical piece was found in the neighboring town of Wiry.
An investigation is required
The Polish Space Agency POLSA did not want to commit itself to a classification. POLSA spokeswoman Agnieszka Gapys told the British news agency Reuters that it could not be ruled out that the object in Komorniki was part of a Falcon 9. “A proper investigation is needed to confirm this.”
The rocket, the remains of which burned up over Europe, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in the US state of California on February 1. The plan was for its second stage to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in a controlled manner over the Pacific.
However, the engine failed, Jonathan McDowell, space expert and astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told the BBC. It had been orbiting the Earth ever since. The uncontrolled re-entry was predictable.
SpaceX incidents are becoming more frequent
The parts hit the ground at a speed of several hundred km/h, said McDowell. As far as is known, no one has been injured. “This is the fourth recent incident involving a SpaceX Falcon, which is concerning,” McDowell said. “It looks like mishaps like this engine failure are becoming more frequent.”
According to McDowell, uncontrolled re-entries of large rocket parts are relatively rare, but potentially dangerous. For example, a piece of space debris weighing 500 kilograms crashed in Kenya at the end of December 2024. A few months earlier, part of the International Space Station (ISS) had entered uncontrollably.
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“So far we've been lucky and no one has been injured,” said McDowell. “But the more we put into orbit, the more likely it is that we won't be lucky again.”
(wpl)
