US farmers have it tough enough these days without the added fear of space junk falling on their heads, yet that is what appears to be the case in a Minnesota cornfield. The farmer bumped into the debris, about 11 feet in diameter, while harvesting his crop.
So where did it come from? One astrophysicist believes it is the upper stage of a Zhuque-2E rocket launched from China in last month. These rockets belong to a Chinese commercial space company called LandSpace, which successfully launched 10 satellites into orbit on September 15th.
What is surprising is that this doesn’t happen more often given the increased number of launches around the world as well as the debris tossed over the side of the International Space Station (ISS). The New York Times reported this summer that in 2025 the US Space Force issued alerts related to about 820 pieces of debris falling to Earth. Fortunately, most of it burns up during reentry or hits the ocean.
Should you be a worried farmer, or just someone interested in what is coming down in the near future, you can visit the Satellite Re-entry Tracker. The image below shows the rocket bodies currently in orbit being tracked by the site.
