A large burning object was the subject of a police investigation in the Australian Outback last week.
The incident, which occurred on Wednesday afternoon, saw a 'multi-agency response' involving authorities from across Western Australia who attended the site of a large piece of smoldering wreckage that had seemingly fallen from the sky around 30km from the town of Newman.
The object was still on fire when site workers had found it next to a rarely used access road.
An initial investigation by authorities revealed that the wreckage was comprised mainly of carbon fiber and did not appear to be part of a commercial aircraft.
The most likely explanation is that it was part of an aerospace pressure vessel or rocket tank.
"Further technical assessment will be undertaken by engineers from the Australian Space Agency to assist in identifying its nature and source," the police said in a statement.
If the object is indeed from space, then it further amplifies concerns raised over the danger posed by increasing amounts of space debris falling back to Earth.
While this piece happened to fall in a remote area, there is also (an albeit slim) chance that it could have fallen over a city or onto someone's house.
Death by space debris hasn't happened yet, but if incidents like this keep happening, it may only be a matter of time.
With all the heat insulation it should be a part of an engine. Satellites are light and fragile, as all the cargo they are released safely already in the space from the payload fairing of the third stage.
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