Piece of space debris found in walnut orchard

HANFORD, Calif. (KSEE) — Space debris fell to Earth in Hanford, the Kings County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday. 

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched Saturday to the area of Eighth and Houston avenues after an orchard owner reported a large metal object in a walnut orchard. It was unknown what the object was.

Detectives reached out to Vandenberg Air Force Base and learned the object was likely a fuel tank from a communications satellite owned by Iridium, a satellite communications network, the sheriff’s office said. 

After reaching out to Iridium, a representative responded to the sheriff’s office, where the metal object was being stored. The Iridium representative identified the metal object as a hydrazine fuel tank that was formerly attached to a communications satellite owned and operated by Iridium.

The sheriff’s office identified the tank as coming from the Iridium 70 satellite The satellite was launched into space May 17, 1998, and was in a low-Earth orbit until it eventually entered the planet’s atmosphere.