* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Mystery space junk

Blobrana · L

It could be part of a Delta II Stage 2 Rocket Body that was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on the 9th December 2007, for the COSMO-SkyMed 2 mission.
The satellite deorbited on 13 February, 2008.

Two Line Element Set (TLE)


DELTA 2 R/B (Decayed 2008-02-13  22:14 UTC ± 2 hours)
1 32377U 07059B   08044.80990222  .10841513  33879-5  12323-3 0  1748
2 32377 098.4209 247.9397 0027895 053.1731 308.2108 16.47841907 10525

Predicted Decay Location 17.3° S, 317° E
Inclination 98.4°
Revolution Number 1054

Blobrana · L

A cattle farmer in Australia's remote northern outback on Friday said he had found a giant ball of twisted metal, which he believes is space junk from a rocket used to launch communications satellites.

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Blobrana · L

A cattle farmer in Australia's remote northern outback on Friday said he had found a giant ball of twisted metal, which he believes is space junk from a rocket used to launch communications satellites.
Farmer James Stirton found the odd-shaped ball last year on his 40,000 hectare property, about 800 kilometres west of the northern Queensland state capital of Brisbane.
But Stirton only started inquiring into what the ball of metal really was, and where it had come from, in the past week.

"I know a lot of about sheep and cattle but I don't know much about satellites. But I would say it is a fuel cell off some stage of a rocket."

He said the object was hollow, and covered in a carbon-fibre material. He has contacted some U.S.-based aerospace companies to try to find out what the object really is.

Source Reuters