A farmer from Hanford, California was strolling in his walnut orchard when he discovered a huge piece of junk. Did he expect it to be from space? Not at all! However, by the look of it, the hunk of metal was charred and scrapped as if it came from hell.
The object was indeed a piece of space junk that passed through the atmosphere, and it endured the heat from the intense friction on its way down. It took the farmer a while to pinpoint the origin of the object, but with some help from the local sheriff’s department, they learned more about it.
According to the local reports, law enforcement took the object to the Vandenberg Air Force Base. There, they got the answer to their question: it was a fuel tank from a satellite.
Iridium Confirmed it Was a Piece of an Old Satellite
It appears that the owner of the satellite is Iridium, who confirmed that the fuel tank was indeed part of a spacecraft. But here’s where it gets weird!
The piece of junk was part of an old (and retired) satellite called Iridium Satellite #70, which has been in orbit for the past 20 years. However, the satellites would completely disintegrate upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. That meant that there should not have been no space junk on the ground. Weirdly enough, this piece made it through the infernal journey and crashed into the farmer’s walnut orchard.
The company has many satellites in orbit, and they use them for the communications network, but until now, they have not been notified about a piece of the spacecraft that made its way back to Earth. The fuel tank was given to Iridium, who will analyze it and try to find out how it made it without burning up in the atmosphere.
Doris’s passion for writing started to take shape in college where she was editor-in-chief of the college newspaper. Even though she ended up working in IT for more than 7 years, she’s now back to what he always enjoyed doing. With a true passion for technology, Doris mostly covers tech-related topics.