Space junk found in North Carolina
A man in North Carolina was left astounded when he discovered a massive, mysterious object on a remote hiking trail. According to the New York Post, Justin Clontz, a groundskeeper at a luxury campsite, expressed his “shock” upon finding the large object, which was encased in dense metal sheets fastened by bolts that appeared otherworldly. The debris, which seemed to be covered in burnt carbon fiber, measures at least 3 feet wide, about an inch thick, and stands nearly 4 feet tall, according to the outlet. Despite the object’s burned appearance, the surrounding area showed no signs of damage.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience; it doesn’t happen every day. We don’t know what it is, but we know it’s not from here,” Mr. Clontz told a local TV station.
He explained, “I just tied a rope to it and dragged it out with a lawn mower. It’s a one-in-a-million chance that it landed where it did. If it had landed somewhere off the trail in the woods, we would have never found it. But it just happened to land on the trail.”
Experts speculate that the object could have fallen to Earth from SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, according to Space.com. Astronomer Jonathan McDowell mentioned on X that the debris “definitely looks consistent with being a part of the Crew-7 Dragon’s trunk, which reentered on a path right over this location on Tuesday.”
The Dragon spacecraft consists of two main parts: the capsule and the trunk. The trunk supports the spacecraft during ascent and carries unpressurized cargo. Typically, the trunk burns up in the atmosphere during reentry, but occasionally, parts can survive and fall back to Earth.
The owner of the campsite Glamping Collective said they plan to reach out to aerospace experts to determine exactly what the object is and where it came from.
“Space debris was not on our list of things we expected to be discussing. The only conclusion we’ve reached is that it’s some type of space debris that fell. It doesn’t look like anything from an airplane,” said Matt Bare, owner of The Glamping Collective. No injuries were reported in connection with the suspected piece of space junk.
