posted 05-25-2024 03:10 PM               

The discovery of Dragon trunk debris from the Crew-7 mission in North Carolina, following debris from the Ax- 3 trunk in Saskatchewan and from the Crew-1 trunk in Australia, makes it clear that the materials from the trunk regularly survive reentry in large chunks.

Twenty-three (23) Dragon-2 (crew or cargo) trunks have now made uncontrolled reentries. The time and location of three of the reentries is uncertain by an hour or more. For the remaining 20, ten came in over the ocean. Five crashed in remote regions in Brazil, Uganda, Sudan, and Arabia.

Of the remaining five, three have had large debris chunks found on the ground. The remaining two are Crew-2 (Kazakh-Russian border near the Yasniy spaceport, 2022 Sep 28) and Crew-5 (east of Colorado Springs, 2023 Apr 27).

There's a chance debris from the Crew-5 trunk could still be found in Colorado along the reentry path, or could have been found but not widely reported.

Above: Suspected SpaceX Dragon trunk debris from the Ax-3 mission as found in Saskatchewan, Canada. (Adam Bent/CBC)

Above: Suspected SpaceX Dragon trunk debris from the Crew-7 mission as found in North Carolina. (Marc Liverman/WLOS)

posted 06-20-2024 09:57 AM               

In 2023, trunk debris that supported NASA's Space Crew-5 re-entered over Colorado, and recently, debris from a private astronaut mission, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), was found in Saskatchewan, Canada, following the deorbit of its trunk on Feb. 26, 2024. Most recently, the trunks that supported Space's 30th commercial services resupply and Crew-7 missions re-entered over Saudi Arabia and North Carolina respectively. NASA is unaware of any structural damage or injuries resulting from these findings. Previously, in 2022, trunk debris from Crew-1 was discovered in Australia.

There is another trunk currently in orbit attached to the Crew-8 Dragon on the International Space Station. Crew-8 is expected to return later this summer.

During its initial design, the Dragon spacecraft trunk was evaluated for re-entry breakup and was predicted to burn up fully. The information from the debris recovery provides an opportunity for teams to improve debris modeling. NASA and SpaceX will continue exploring additional solutions as we learn from the discovered debris.

Comprised of two sections, a Dragon spacecraft has a pressurized section that safely flies crew or cargo, and an unpressurized expendable section called the trunk. The trunk contains hardware used for spacecraft power and cooling while in orbit. Prior to re-entry, the trunk is jettisoned and breaks up in the Earth's atmosphere, while the Dragon spacecraft renters Earth's orbit — protected by its heatshield — and deploys four parachutes prior to splashing down and completing its mission

In the unlikely event of locating a piece of space debris, please do not attempt to handle or retrieve the debris. Instead, please contact the Space Debris Hotline at 1-866-623-0234 or recovery@spacex.com.

NASA and SpaceX remain committed to safeguarding the public, astronauts, and ground crews.