Aussies Tell Elon Musk: Clean Up SpaceX Trash You Dumped In Our Country

Chunks of space debris were reportedly found on a farm in the Australian mountains, and on Wednesday (Thursday, August 4, 2022, in Manila), NASA confirmed that at least one of the objects is "likely" a scrap of hardware from a SpaceX Dragon capsule that was jettisoned as the spacecraft reentered the Earth's atmosphere last May.

Photo Insert: The scraps of the Dragon trunk found in Australia were likely part of the spacecraft that carried four astronauts home from the ISS on May 2, 2021, according to NASA.

SpaceX did not comment and did not interact with newsmen media, especially those from Australia, Jackie Wattles reported for CNN Business. At least three pieces of debris have been recovered near Australia's southernmost tip, and SpaceX confirmed it to be a part of the Dragon's trunk.

The trunk provides electricity and other services to the capsule during orbit but is discarded as the capsule slices back through the thick upper atmosphere on its way home.

Australian media actually asked SpaceX to collect the trash while others slammed the company owned by Elon Musk for not ensuring that its garbage would not slam into Australia or any other country.

SpaceX operates two types of Dragon spacecraft: one that is designed solely for shuttling food, research and other supplies to the International Space Station, and another, called Crew Dragon, that's designed for carrying astronauts.

The scraps of the Dragon trunk found in Australia were likely part of the spacecraft that carried four astronauts home from the ISS on May 2, 2021, according to NASA.

Australian media reported that the debris was initially identified by experts with the Australian Space Agency. NASA referred further questions to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which licenses and oversees commercial space flights in the US. The FAA then referred questions to the US State Department, which has not responded.

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