I am talking o a reporter about this in a couple hours: https://regina.ctvnews.ca/from-outer-space-sask-farmers-baffled-after-discovering-strange-wreckage-in-field-1.6880353

Prof. Sam Lawler

So, once they were done loading, I decided to make it even more awkward by walking into the clump of reporters with the box of donuts, invitingly open. I asked nicely if they'd like any, and that broke through the ice just a little bit. They both smiled tentatively at me.

One of the journalists behind me said "It's ok, she's not a journalist, you can trust her!"

And I said, "Nope, I'm an astronomer" and I'm pretty sure my innocent smile turned positively evil.

They did not take any donuts.

Prof. Sam Lawler

At this point, the engineers were obviously trying to escape into a side room with Barry, away from the reporters.

I quickly tried to get in my one question "How much do these trunks weigh? That info isn't public" and they smiled at me and didn't answer.

I followed along as they walked to the side door with Barry and asked if they were worried about taking it across the border. One of them looked nervously at the Uhaul, smiled nervously, and walked away. Well, I tried.

Prof. Sam Lawler

Then while they negotiated with Barry, it was time for a proper media scrum. This was pretty fun, actually, especially since I was so pumped up at this point (I was actually jumping up and down with excitement more than once as I watched reporters following the poor SpaceX dudes around). The reporters were all having a great time and happily chatting with each other. Very good vibes.

Special highlight, one of the local reporters took Astro 101 from me my first year teaching here!

Prof. Sam Lawler

Shout out to the lovely snuggly farm cat who rubbed on everyone's legs, graciously accepted pats, and then curled up for a nap on very expensive recording equipment.

Prof. Sam Lawler

Everyone filmed the Uhaul driving off once the engineers were done with their private chat with Barry, then it was time to media scrum with Barry (hats off to this guy! It took me years of practice to be comfortable with this kind of interview, and he just waltzed into it. Well done, sir! Farmers are just good at everything).

Then all the reporters gradually packed up, many writing portions of their articles on their phones while packing (impressive!), and some took a donut for the road.

Prof. Sam Lawler

So...now what?

After all that, I am really not sure if what just happened was 100% legal.

I'm not sure what Canadians are supposed to do if they find space junk.

I have a nice map of where several pieces were found (along about 50km of the projected ground track), and I'm sure more pieces will be found in the coming months/years. What are people supposed to do with them? (The SpaceX dudes did not answer that question.)

So, I'm sure this story's far from over.

Prof. Sam Lawler

But I'm SO HAPPY about how everything went today!

Journalists chasing down SpaceX employees on a grain farm in the middle of nowhere!

SpaceX maybe getting held accountable! (Well, big maybe, but I did my best here, and I'll keep fighting!)

Donuts, Uhauls, snuggly farm cats, and international law. Wow.

Prof. Sam Lawler

CTV National News: SpaceX keen on Sask. space junk

Elon Musk's company SpaceX has sent a crew to a farm field in Saskatchewan after a piece of space junk fell from the skies.

CTVNews (www.ctvnews.ca)

Prof. Sam Lawler

Well...they played Duel of the Fates just before they quoted me about SpaceX being awful on my local CBC radio station! Wowee, that was awesome. I think it's time for me to get off the computer and snuggle goats for a while.

SpaceX retrieves space junk from Sask. farmer | CBC News

Barry Sawchuk made headlines earlier this year when he said a giant piece of space debris had slammed into his field. This week, SpaceX came to his farm near Ituna, northeast of Regina, to collect the space junk.

CBC (www.cbc.ca)

Prof. Sam Lawler

THIS IS IT!! THIS IS THE BEST ONE! WATCH THIS ONE

They even included me trying to give them donuts and smiling evilly after saying "I'm an astronomer"

I need to give some more donuts to the Global News team. SO GOOD.

Leroy

@sundogplanets went camping last year. There wasn’t a single moment that we couldn’t see satellites zooming above us.

Completely changes how the night sky is perceived, I’m so sad for future generations to not see the untouched expansive beauty there once was.

Prof. Sam Lawler

Ooo nice I got angry, insulting emails from an Elon-bro (yes, multiple emails from one Elon-bro). Guess maybe these articles are reaching people?

Prof. Sam Lawler

Ooo this one's pretty good too, includes the cat rubbing her face on the space junk, but no mention of the donuts! https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6420052

Prof. Sam Lawler

It looks like maybe SpaceX has just publicly admitted (via NASA) that they have a debris problem. So much of a problem that they have set up a debris reporting hotline!! (I am sooo tempted to call it - but I'm sure they wouldn't answer any of my questions either)

I tried searching for this statement from NASA but the only source seems to be a screenshot of text on twitter (that a journalist sent me)

(...could it be a prank? That would be a *hilarious* prank)

Prof. Sam Lawler

Just put on my Professor Sweater (TM) to do a quick CBC interview about Starlink reentries destroying the ozone layer. I made sure to heavily reference the giant pieces of SpaceX debris that landed near me as evidence that they need better oversight and regulation.

I still don't know if this "offiical NASA statement" twitter screenshot thing is real or not, and none of my space policy friends know either! This is... so weird.

Prof. Sam Lawler

I finally just went ahead and emailed the reporter who posted the screenshotted text on twitter to see if he can point me to where the original official statement is posted. I am so curious to know if it's real or not... that is the ONLY public acknowledgement I've seen that the Saskatchewan space junk belongs to SpaceX.

Prof. Sam Lawler

The reporter emailed me back! It's a screenshot of an email that NASA public affairs sent to him.

So, except for the Australia junk in 2022, SpaceX has still not publicly admitted to any of the Crew Dragon trunk debris falls. But apparently NASA thinks they have admitted to all of it. INTERESTING.

Prof. Sam Lawler

Hey, finally made it into an American news story! So far, SpaceX has not contacted the people in North Carolina who found SpaceX debris. Interesting. I hope that news stories like this will push them to take some responsibility here!

Canadian rofessor: SpaceX's lack of accountability for space debris 'frustrating'

The WNC mountains aren't the only places where debris from space has fallen. A professor from Canada said SpaceX's lack of accountability is "frustrating."

WLOS (wlos.com)

Prof. Sam Lawler

This is the best way possible to (maybe?) end this epic thread!

Here is the story of the Saskatchewan SpaceX debris fall, written by me, published by Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spacex-dropped-space-junk-on-my-neighbors-farm-heres-what-happened-next/

Many of you got to see this story unfold in real-time toots, but this is the whole thing, plus some extra science context. Extra special thank you to @NicoleCRust and @laurahelmuth for encouraging me to pitch the story to SciAm! I am so excited to publish in a magazine I read all the time as a kid.

Prof. Sam Lawler

...of course, it would sure be nice to publish an article in Scientific American about my actual research, rather than the garbage that gets in the way of my research. It's ok though, I'm glad to get to share this bizarre story, and the warnings it presents us.

I hope that it will make a few people think a bit harder about how we as a species are currently using outer space, and how we need to do a *much* better job on that.

Further reading suggestion: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo184287883.html