posted 04-02-2021 05:58 PM               

Today (April 2), the Grant County Sheriff's Office reported that debris from the stage was found and returned to SpaceX.

SpaceX recovered a Composite-Overwrapped Pressure Vessel from last week's Falcon 9 re-entry. It was found on private property in southwest Grant County this week. Media and treasure hunters: we are not disclosing specifics. The property owner simply wants to be left alone.

The impact left a 4-inch dent in the soil, reports The Verge.

A Grant County, Washington property owner, who told authorities he didn't want to be identified, found the errant COPV — roughly the size and shape of a hefty punching bag — sitting on his farm one morning last weekend. He reported it to the Grant County Sheriff's Office, GCSO spokesman Kyle Foreman said in a phone call. A sergeant was dispatched on Monday to check it out.

"Neither the property owner nor our sergeant are rocket scientists, of course, but judging from what had happened a few days prior, it looked to them like it was possibly debris from the Falcon 9 reentry," Foreman said. So the sergeant called SpaceX, which confirmed to GCSO it appeared to be their's and dispatched employees to retrieve the COPV on Tuesday. SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.

posted 04-02-2021 06:48 PM               

Article VIII of the treaty:

A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body.

Ownership of objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on a celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth. Such objects or component parts found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State Party, which shall, upon request, furnish identifying data prior to their return.

posted 04-02-2021 09:29 PM               

States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities, and for assuring that national activities are carried out in conformity with the provisions set forth in the present Treaty.

posted 04-03-2021 01:06 PM               

Each State Party to the Treaty that launches or procures the launching of an object into outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and each State Party from whose territory or facility an object is launched, is internationally liable for damage to another State Party to the Treaty or to its natural or juridical persons by such object or its component parts on the Earth, in air or in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies.

posted 04-26-2021 09:14 AM               

Within a day, driving around in remote locations, with binoculars “and a really good eye,” he found two more. One had fallen in sage brush where the desert met some irrigated fields. Another was across the river inside the Army’s Yakima training range, where he got permission to roam in an area open to the public.

The tanks come wrapped in carbon fiber composite that partly shredded during the violent reentry. “It’s a very nasty material,” said Ward. “It’s basically like fiberglass times 20. It gets in your fingers and it’s like ants biting you.”

Wearing protective gloves and mask, he manhandled both tanks onto his rented pickup.

Later, Ward changed the drop-off location for his rental truck and drove the tanks all the way back to Prescott, where he cleaned them and wrapped them in tarps for storage.

He’s unsure what he’ll do with them. Hankey sent a Facebook message to an acquaintance at SpaceX, but so far without response.