Debris from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that blasted off in the United States on February 1 entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Poland on Wednesday, the Polish space agency said.
A 1.5 meter by one meter (five feet by three feet) chunk from an unidentified object was found near the western city of Poznan, police said.
Police later said a second similar-sized object had been located several hours afterwards in a forest a few kilometres from where the first was discovered.
No casualties or damage were reported.
The Polish Space Agency (POLSA) said a stage of the Falcon 9 R/B rocket made “an uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere” at about 0346 GMT.
It said the rocket was part of a Space X Starlink Group launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on February 1. The rocket was launched to put Starlink satellites into a low-level orbit.
The debris left spectacular luminous trails visible in the sky in western Poland, according to witnesses who posted video online. According to police, the chunk of debris was found in the grounds of a warehouse near Poznan.
A police spokesman, Lukasz Paterski, said police and firefighters were working to find the origin of the debris. He said it was possible the object came from a SpaceX rocket.
POLSA spokeswoman Agnieszka Gapys said the agency was speaking with SpaceX, which is controlled by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, about the debris, PAP news agency reported.
Polish media said the composite material found near Poznan resembled a Falcon 9 fuel tank.
Researchers warned in a study published last month said that space debris plummeting back to Earth could be a growing problem for aircraft. In late December, space debris weighing over 1,000 pounds crashed into a village in Kenya, the country’s space agency said.
