Starlink satellite part hit a Canadian farm when it fell from orbit

A fragment of an out-of-control SpaceX Starlink satellite smashed into a farm in Canada last year, New Scientist can reveal – raising questions about the risks of de-orbiting space junk.

“That’ll punch a hole in whatever it lands on, including your head,” says Samantha Lawler, an astronomer at the University of Regina in Canada.

Last July, SpaceX launched a batch of its internet-providing Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket, but a malfunction with the rocket’s upper…