October 21, 2025 • 9 mins
A burning object crashes near a remote mining site, sparking an international investigation into what fell from the crowded skies above.
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#WeirdDarkness #SpaceDebris #SpaceJunk #AustralianOutback #ChineseRocket #OrbitalDebris #KesslerSyndrome #SpaceMystery #RocketDebris #SpaceNews
READ or SHARE: https://weirddarkness.com/space-trash-crash-australia/
Support our Halloween “Overcoming the Darkness” campaign to help people with depression: https://weirddarkness.com/HOPE
WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2025, Weird Darkness.
#WeirdDarkness #SpaceDebris #SpaceJunk #AustralianOutback #ChineseRocket #OrbitalDebris #KesslerSyndrome #SpaceMystery #RocketDebris #SpaceNews
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm Darren Marler and this is weird dark news. Something
fell from the sky on October eighteenth, twenty twenty five,
and it was still smoking when they found it. Mine
workers spotted the smoldering object around two pm on Saturday,
lying on a service road they barely used. The site
sits about nineteen miles from Newman, Western Australia. The nearest
(00:32):
town was a half hour drive across red sand and scrubland.
Emergency services arrived and sealed off the area. Photos show
the object burning on rust colored sand, flames working at
its blackened surface. Other images capture what remained after the
fire died down, a charred, twisted piece of aerospace hardware
that had survived atmospheric reentry. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau
(00:57):
ruled out commercial aircraft initialists. Veestments pointed to carbon fiber construction,
possibly a composite over wrapped pressure vessel or rocket tank.
Western Australia Police coordinated the response, working with the Australian
Space Agency, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and
the mine operators. Since the Western Australia Police Force handles
(01:18):
space debris re entry for the state, they took the lead.
Marco Langbroke studies astrodynamics and space missions at Delft University
of Technology in the Netherlands. He analyzed the debris and
examined possible candidates. Only one object matched in orbit that
would pass close to Newman in the early hours of
October eighteenth, the upper stage but Chinese Jai Long three
(01:40):
rocket in a ninety seven point six degree inclined polar orbit.
Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist at Flinders University, told ABC
Radio Perth the debris likely came from the fourth stage
of the Jai Loong rocket, launched in late September. The
feace had been circling Earth until atmospheric drag pulled it
back down. The timeline fits Gilong three rocket, launched on
(02:02):
September twenty fourth, twenty twenty five, from a sea based
platform off the Chinese coast. The rocket stands thirty one
meters tall, weighs one hundred and forty five metric tons,
and burns solid fuel through four stages. Its first stage
generates two hundred tons thrust. Langbroke noted the debris could
be a substantial chunk of the upper stage itself, given
(02:23):
its size and the fact that the Jailong three upper
stage runs on solid fuel. Australia has accumulated several pieces
of space debris over recent years. In July twenty twenty three,
a barnacle covered cylinder about the size of a small
car washed up at Greenhead, roughly two hundred and fifty
kilometers north of Perth. The gold colored canister measured around
(02:44):
two point five meters long and two point five meters wide.
The Australian Space Agency identified it as the third stage
of a polar satellite launch vehicle operated by the Indian
Space Research Organization. Matt Woods from Perth Observatory explained that
rocket bondi are designed to return to Earth, but the
way they tumble during re entry can allow some pieces
(03:05):
to survive the burnout process. In twenty twenty two, Farmers
and the Snowy Mountains discovered SpaceX debris on their property.
Space junk keeps accumulating in Earth's orbit and there's no
scheduled removal system to deal with it. The European Space
agencies twenty twenty five Space Environment Report tracks about forty
thousand objects through space surveillance networks. That's just what we
(03:28):
can see. The actual count of debris larger than one
centimeter big enough to destroy a satellite exceeds one point
two million pieces. More than fifty thousand of those measure
over ten centimeters in some crowded altitude bands. Debris density
matches the number of active satellites, Intact satellites or rocket
bodies now re enter Earth's atmosphere more than three times
(03:51):
a day. SpaceX's Starlink satellites dodged potential debris impacts one
hundred and forty four four hundred four times during the
first half of twenty twenty five alone. That's one collision
warning every couple of minutes for six months straight, triple
the rate from the previous six months. The European Space
(04:11):
Agency estimates one hundred and forty million debris items bigger
than one millimeter orbit Earth right now. All of it
travels at least eight times faster than a rifle bullet.
Launch rates now run about ten times higher than the
early two thousands. This surge has increased yearly re entries,
with recent counts showing over two hundred spacecraft and orbital
(04:32):
stages falling back per year. The threat extends beyond current
debris levels. Orbital junk could overwhelm satellite's ability to avoid collisions,
with each crash creating more fragments and a cascading disaster
that turns low Earth orbit into a hazard zone. This
scenario was called Kessler syndrome. Donald Kessler, an American astrophysicist,
(04:55):
started warning NASA about runaway orbital debris in nineteen seventy six.
His predictions grow more relevant each year. A two thousand
and five NASA study found that stopping all satellite launches
would not prevent Kessler syndrome. At worst case densities, space
debris could make rocket launches nearly impossible because the collision
(05:15):
risk would be too high for a safe passage to orbit.
At five hundred and fifty kilometers altitude, where Starlink satellites operate,
there's a fifty percent chance of at least one collision
within a year. Space debris costs over two billion dollars
annually for tracking, mitigation, and damage control. In twenty twenty four,
space debris punched through a house roof in Florida. In
(05:38):
February twenty twenty five, at least three SpaceX Falcon nine
fragments fell across Poland following Russia's twenty twenty one anti
satellite weapon test, fragments from the Soviet satellite Cosmos thirteen
forty reached Earth's surface. Major debris events keep happening. China's
two thousand and seven anti satellite test and the two
thousand and nine satellite collision occurred at eight one hundred
(06:00):
to nine hundred kilometers altitude. On December third, two thousand
and six, a Delta two rocket that launched NASA's nineteen
eighty nine Kobe spacecraft exploded despite having its fuel vented.
Between twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen, three Atlas V centaurs
second stages broke apart. The European Space Agency aims to
stop adding debris from its missions by twenty thirty through
(06:23):
its zero Debris approach. Multiple companies and countries have signed
the Zero Debris Charter. ESA is developing clear Space one
for a twenty twenty eight launch, the first mission designed
to capture and remove a satellite from orbit. Japan's commercial
Removal of Debris demonstration represents another clean up effort. Companies
(06:44):
like Helsing and loft Orbital are deploying AI powered satellite
constellations to track and prevent collisions. In early twenty twenty five,
they announced Europe's first multi sensor constellation, using cameras and
radio frequency sensors with intelligent data processing. Hands Aerospace Exploration
Agency launched a wooden satellite called Lignosat in December twenty
(07:06):
twenty four, built for materials designed to burn up cleanly
during re entry. Other developing solutions include high resolution orbital tracking,
AI powered constellation management, and active debris removal robots. The
specialized spacecraft would use grippers to grab orbiting junk and
guide it to a controlled ocean splashdown. The Australian Space
(07:28):
Agency confirmed the object is likely a propellant tank or
pressure vessel from a space launched vehicle. It's been secured
and poses no current public safety threat. The agency warns
anyone finding suspected space debris not to touch it. Space
objects can contain hazardous materials, contact local emergency services instead,
(07:48):
they'll handle the assessment and investigation. Large space debris recovery
remains relatively rare. Multiple safeguards limit the chances of orbiting
technology reaching the ground. Planned controlled re entry materials designed
to burn up during atmospheric descent and Earth's mostly water
covered surface. Anything surviving re entry typically lands in the ocean.
(08:11):
The mine workers near Newman found their piece on an
October afternoon when they discovered aerospace hardware still burning on
the access road. Our orbital neighborhood gets more crowded each year,
more launches, more satellites, more debris tumbling through space at
thousands of miles per hour, with no system in place
to remove what's already there, at least not yet. What
(08:34):
goes up eventually comes down. Sometimes it burns up completely.
Sometimes it splashes into the Pacific. Sometimes it lands smoking
on a remote Australian road, sparking a multi agency investigation
and adding another incident to humanity's orbital waste problem. The
mineworkers who found it called emergency services. Authorities secured the site,
and investigators began determining where it came from and how
(08:57):
it survived the fall. Space keeps getting closer. The debris
falling from Morbid is evidence of a growing problem we'll
need to solve to keep using the orbital real estate
we've claimed. Each piece that makes it back to Earth
demonstrates the same issue. We're running out of room up there,
and we haven't figured out how to clean up after ourselves.
If you'd like to read this story for yourself or
(09:19):
share the article with a friend, you can read it
on the Weird Darkness website. I've placed a link to
it in the episode description, and you can find more
stories of the paranormal, true crime, strange, and more, including
numerous stories that never make it to the podcast, at
Weirddarkness dot com slash news
I'm Darren Marler and this is weird dark news. Something
fell from the sky on October eighteenth, twenty twenty five,
and it was still smoking when they found it. Mine
workers spotted the smoldering object around two pm on Saturday,
lying on a service road they barely used. The site
sits about nineteen miles from Newman, Western Australia. The nearest
(00:32):
town was a half hour drive across red sand and scrubland.
Emergency services arrived and sealed off the area. Photos show
the object burning on rust colored sand, flames working at
its blackened surface. Other images capture what remained after the
fire died down, a charred, twisted piece of aerospace hardware
that had survived atmospheric reentry. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau
(00:57):
ruled out commercial aircraft initialists. Veestments pointed to carbon fiber construction,
possibly a composite over wrapped pressure vessel or rocket tank.
Western Australia Police coordinated the response, working with the Australian
Space Agency, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and
the mine operators. Since the Western Australia Police Force handles
(01:18):
space debris re entry for the state, they took the lead.
Marco Langbroke studies astrodynamics and space missions at Delft University
of Technology in the Netherlands. He analyzed the debris and
examined possible candidates. Only one object matched in orbit that
would pass close to Newman in the early hours of
October eighteenth, the upper stage but Chinese Jai Long three
(01:40):
rocket in a ninety seven point six degree inclined polar orbit.
Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist at Flinders University, told ABC
Radio Perth the debris likely came from the fourth stage
of the Jai Loong rocket, launched in late September. The
feace had been circling Earth until atmospheric drag pulled it
back down. The timeline fits Gilong three rocket, launched on
(02:02):
September twenty fourth, twenty twenty five, from a sea based
platform off the Chinese coast. The rocket stands thirty one
meters tall, weighs one hundred and forty five metric tons,
and burns solid fuel through four stages. Its first stage
generates two hundred tons thrust. Langbroke noted the debris could
be a substantial chunk of the upper stage itself, given
(02:23):
its size and the fact that the Jailong three upper
stage runs on solid fuel. Australia has accumulated several pieces
of space debris over recent years. In July twenty twenty three,
a barnacle covered cylinder about the size of a small
car washed up at Greenhead, roughly two hundred and fifty
kilometers north of Perth. The gold colored canister measured around
(02:44):
two point five meters long and two point five meters wide.
The Australian Space Agency identified it as the third stage
of a polar satellite launch vehicle operated by the Indian
Space Research Organization. Matt Woods from Perth Observatory explained that
rocket bondi are designed to return to Earth, but the
way they tumble during re entry can allow some pieces
(03:05):
to survive the burnout process. In twenty twenty two, Farmers
and the Snowy Mountains discovered SpaceX debris on their property.
Space junk keeps accumulating in Earth's orbit and there's no
scheduled removal system to deal with it. The European Space
agencies twenty twenty five Space Environment Report tracks about forty
thousand objects through space surveillance networks. That's just what we
(03:28):
can see. The actual count of debris larger than one
centimeter big enough to destroy a satellite exceeds one point
two million pieces. More than fifty thousand of those measure
over ten centimeters in some crowded altitude bands. Debris density
matches the number of active satellites, Intact satellites or rocket
bodies now re enter Earth's atmosphere more than three times
(03:51):
a day. SpaceX's Starlink satellites dodged potential debris impacts one
hundred and forty four four hundred four times during the
first half of twenty twenty five alone. That's one collision
warning every couple of minutes for six months straight, triple
the rate from the previous six months. The European Space
(04:11):
Agency estimates one hundred and forty million debris items bigger
than one millimeter orbit Earth right now. All of it
travels at least eight times faster than a rifle bullet.
Launch rates now run about ten times higher than the
early two thousands. This surge has increased yearly re entries,
with recent counts showing over two hundred spacecraft and orbital
(04:32):
stages falling back per year. The threat extends beyond current
debris levels. Orbital junk could overwhelm satellite's ability to avoid collisions,
with each crash creating more fragments and a cascading disaster
that turns low Earth orbit into a hazard zone. This
scenario was called Kessler syndrome. Donald Kessler, an American astrophysicist,
(04:55):
started warning NASA about runaway orbital debris in nineteen seventy six.
His predictions grow more relevant each year. A two thousand
and five NASA study found that stopping all satellite launches
would not prevent Kessler syndrome. At worst case densities, space
debris could make rocket launches nearly impossible because the collision
(05:15):
risk would be too high for a safe passage to orbit.
At five hundred and fifty kilometers altitude, where Starlink satellites operate,
there's a fifty percent chance of at least one collision
within a year. Space debris costs over two billion dollars
annually for tracking, mitigation, and damage control. In twenty twenty four,
space debris punched through a house roof in Florida. In
(05:38):
February twenty twenty five, at least three SpaceX Falcon nine
fragments fell across Poland following Russia's twenty twenty one anti
satellite weapon test, fragments from the Soviet satellite Cosmos thirteen
forty reached Earth's surface. Major debris events keep happening. China's
two thousand and seven anti satellite test and the two
thousand and nine satellite collision occurred at eight one hundred
(06:00):
to nine hundred kilometers altitude. On December third, two thousand
and six, a Delta two rocket that launched NASA's nineteen
eighty nine Kobe spacecraft exploded despite having its fuel vented.
Between twenty eighteen and twenty nineteen, three Atlas V centaurs
second stages broke apart. The European Space Agency aims to
stop adding debris from its missions by twenty thirty through
(06:23):
its zero Debris approach. Multiple companies and countries have signed
the Zero Debris Charter. ESA is developing clear Space one
for a twenty twenty eight launch, the first mission designed
to capture and remove a satellite from orbit. Japan's commercial
Removal of Debris demonstration represents another clean up effort. Companies
(06:44):
like Helsing and loft Orbital are deploying AI powered satellite
constellations to track and prevent collisions. In early twenty twenty five,
they announced Europe's first multi sensor constellation, using cameras and
radio frequency sensors with intelligent data processing. Hands Aerospace Exploration
Agency launched a wooden satellite called Lignosat in December twenty
(07:06):
twenty four, built for materials designed to burn up cleanly
during re entry. Other developing solutions include high resolution orbital tracking,
AI powered constellation management, and active debris removal robots. The
specialized spacecraft would use grippers to grab orbiting junk and
guide it to a controlled ocean splashdown. The Australian Space
(07:28):
Agency confirmed the object is likely a propellant tank or
pressure vessel from a space launched vehicle. It's been secured
and poses no current public safety threat. The agency warns
anyone finding suspected space debris not to touch it. Space
objects can contain hazardous materials, contact local emergency services instead,
(07:48):
they'll handle the assessment and investigation. Large space debris recovery
remains relatively rare. Multiple safeguards limit the chances of orbiting
technology reaching the ground. Planned controlled re entry materials designed
to burn up during atmospheric descent and Earth's mostly water
covered surface. Anything surviving re entry typically lands in the ocean.
(08:11):
The mine workers near Newman found their piece on an
October afternoon when they discovered aerospace hardware still burning on
the access road. Our orbital neighborhood gets more crowded each year,
more launches, more satellites, more debris tumbling through space at
thousands of miles per hour, with no system in place
to remove what's already there, at least not yet. What
(08:34):
goes up eventually comes down. Sometimes it burns up completely.
Sometimes it splashes into the Pacific. Sometimes it lands smoking
on a remote Australian road, sparking a multi agency investigation
and adding another incident to humanity's orbital waste problem. The
mineworkers who found it called emergency services. Authorities secured the site,
and investigators began determining where it came from and how
(08:57):
it survived the fall. Space keeps getting closer. The debris
falling from Morbid is evidence of a growing problem we'll
need to solve to keep using the orbital real estate
we've claimed. Each piece that makes it back to Earth
demonstrates the same issue. We're running out of room up there,
and we haven't figured out how to clean up after ourselves.
If you'd like to read this story for yourself or
(09:19):
share the article with a friend, you can read it
on the Weird Darkness website. I've placed a link to
it in the episode description, and you can find more
stories of the paranormal, true crime, strange, and more, including
numerous stories that never make it to the podcast, at
Weirddarkness dot com slash news
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