# Australian farmer finds mystery space junk **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 28, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099 "2008-03-28T20:42:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/1 "2008-03-28T20:42:30Z")
That’s the title: > [@](#): > > CANBERRA (Reuters) - A cattle farmer in Australia’s remote northern outback on Friday said he had found a giant ball of twisted metal, which he believes is space junk from a rocket used to launch communications satellites. > Farmer James Stirton found the odd-shaped ball last year on his 40,000 hectare property, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) west of the northern Queensland state capital of Brisbane [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080328/sc\_nm/australia\_spacejunk\_dc](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080328/sc_nm/australia_spacejunk_dc) You can’t foool me. “Carbon fibers” ? Hah! This is a hairball from one of those sentient UFOs that Charles Fort was always writing about ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/2 "2008-03-28T21:18:35Z")
It flew from his burning barrel after an aerosol can blew up. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/3 "2008-03-28T21:50:42Z")
Look inside—you’ll find Harold Holt. What? Too soon? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/4 "2008-03-28T21:51:46Z")
Did you see this? “In 1979, large parts of the Skylab space station fell to earth near a tiny outback town in Australia’s west. A local council sent NASA a ticket for littering and then the United States President Jimmy Carter rang a local motel to apologize.” I have no memory of that. Of course I wouldn’t, after what the aliens have put me through. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/5 "2008-03-28T22:21:25Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] This is a hairball from one of those sentient UFOs that Charles Fort was always writing about [/QUOTE] No, this is a spitwad from Mechagodzilla. Seriously, it’s probably an high pressure helium ullage tank for an RCS or TVC system on a rocket motor. They’re frequently made from fiber-wournd composite or an metallic FWC-reinforced pressure vessel. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/6 "2008-03-28T22:31:10Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Seriously, it’s probably an high pressure helium ullage tank for an RCS or TVC system on a rocket motor. They’re frequently made from fiber-wournd composite or an metallic FWC-reinforced pressure vessel. [/QUOTE] They had this bloke on the local radio last night. He said it is spherical (apart from an impact dent), it looks like steel, it’s hollow, and it has a hole in each end. The thing weighs about twenty kilograms. He’s called NASA, who haven’t any idea, and another agency, who are still trying to find out. There was a woman interviwed after him who was a space somebody-or-other, and she said that these events are remarkably common in this country, and that the space agencies probably aren’t interested in the object itself, but only in its final impact trajectory if that was unusual. She did say that the object might be worth something to an enthusiast. At the moment, it’s sitting in a wheelbarrow in the farmer’s shed. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/7 "2008-03-28T23:34:17Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] They had this bloke on the local radio last night. He said it is spherical (apart from an impact dent), it looks like steel, it’s hollow, and it has a hole in each end. The thing weighs about twenty kilograms. He’s called NASA, who haven’t any idea, and another agency, who are still trying to find out. [/QUOTE] It’s a mini-Death Star! ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/8 "2008-03-29T03:34:42Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Did you see this? “In 1979, large parts of the Skylab space station fell to earth near a tiny outback town in Australia’s west. A local council sent NASA a ticket for littering and then the United States President Jimmy Carter rang a local motel to apologize.” I have no memory of that. Of course I wouldn’t, after what the aliens have put me through. [/QUOTE] He’s the only president to say he saw a UFO. [He’s also the only president to have to fend off a killer rabbit when fishing in a boat.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident) He has spent decades doing Habitat for Humanity. [Sheperd Sues Russian Space Agency.](http://in.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idINL2621415320080326) ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/9 "2008-03-29T05:40:58Z")
😛 [Meteor shit!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il7NEl3745k) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/10 "2008-03-29T08:22:36Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Seriously, it’s probably an high pressure helium **ullage** tank… [/QUOTE] (bolding mine) And the Martians in _War of the Worlds_ cried, “Ulllaaaa… Ulllaaaa…” You can’t hide Alien Artifacts from _us_. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/11 "2008-03-29T11:46:33Z")
500 miles from Brisbane is not really remote. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/12 "2008-03-29T12:14:13Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] 500 miles from Brisbane is not really remote. [/QUOTE] No, but Brisbane is. d&r 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/13 "2008-03-29T12:16:39Z")
[QUOTE=Cicero] 500 miles from Brisbane is not really remote. [/QUOTE] Well, anything west of Toowoomba and it starts to look a lot like Mars, IME… ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/14 "2008-03-30T12:45:19Z")
[A globe fell in Brazil.](http://www.universetoday.com/2008/03/28/the-mysterious-case-of-two-spheres-falling-to-earth-in-australia-and-brazil/)This article has better pictures of the new globe and the Australian wreck. We have another source, besides Stranger On A Train that says it’s a high pressure gas vessel. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/15 "2008-03-30T14:41:05Z")
Oh, wow. This is starting to get a bit creepy… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/16 "2008-03-30T18:54:06Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Oh, wow. This is starting to get a bit creepy… [/QUOTE] Nah. Just space junk. I am the most paranoid person on this Board, & even I understand it ain’t nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/17 "2008-03-30T19:30:58Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] I am the most paranoid person on this Board, & even I understand it ain’t nothin’. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I know you’re right. 🙂 (I still maintain they look like miniature Death Stars…) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australian-farmer-finds-mystery-space-junk/443099/18 "2008-03-30T19:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Yeah, I know you’re right. 🙂 (I still maintain they look like miniature Death Stars…) [/QUOTE] It looks like a creature from a bad 80s Sci-Fi movie. Is it being chased by aliens, shooting poisonous quills, and shouting “Let’s Roll…”? 😃