--- title: "Giant Piece of Space Junk Crashes Down on Farm of Canadian, Who Intends to Sell It and Spend Money on Hockey Rink" description: "A gigantic piece of a SpaceX rocket crashed down on a rural farm in Saskatchewan, Canada — and the story only gets more Canadian from there." date: "2024-05-15" modified: "2024-05-15" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/piece-space-junk-farm-canadian-hockey-rink" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "canada" - "space junk" - "SpaceX" - "the digest" --- # Giant Piece of Space Junk Crashes Down on Farm of Canadian, Who Intends to Sell It and Spend Money on Hockey Rink ![A gigantic piece of a SpaceX rocket crashed down on a rural farm in Saskatchewan, Canada — and the story only gets more Canadian from there.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Space Junk Fundraiser A gigantic piece of a rocket crashed down on a rural farm in Saskatchewan — and the story only gets more Canadian from there. Local farmer Barry Sawchuk discovered the charred, 88-pound chunk of composite fibers while weeding his fields, the [*CBC* reports](). "We thought originally it was just garbage," he told the broadcaster. "But I had no idea. I don't build spaceships for a living. I farm." Sawchuk is now hoping to sell the piece — and use the proceeds to raise money for a hockey rink that's being built in his town of Ituna, Saskatchewan. "That's where I was born and raised, so why not?" he told the *CBC*. ## Death Trap According to the report, a group of astronomy reporters traced the massive piece of space junk to a SpaceX rocket that launched in February. Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell [suggested]() the find was linked to a Dragon spacecraft that returned a crew of four from the International Space Station. While many of these parts are designed to burn up during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, they can also survive the trip and hit the Earth below. Statistically, space debris is most likely to splash down in an ocean, but every once in a while these pieces can drop down on inhabited places as well. In 2022, a sheep farmer in New South Wales, Australia [discovered]() what appeared to be a jettisoned piece once belonging to a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. At terminal velocity, space junk can do real damage. Last month, [NASA admitted]() that a piece of the International Space Station [crashed through the roof]() of Alejandro Otero's home in Naples, Florida — narrowly missing his son, who was sleeping two rooms away. And that piece was a mere 1.6 inches in diameter. The piece recovered by Sawchuk was far larger. "It's really just luck," University of Regina astronomy professor Samantha Lawler told the *CBC*. "If that had hit in the middle of Regina or, yeah, New York City, it very easily could have killed someone." Experts have since called for more stringent rules when it comes to launching satellites and the reentry of human-made objects. **More on space junk:** *[Japanese Spacecraft Chases Down Derelict Rocket]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()