Discovery of Zhuque-2E Rocket Fragments
On October 22, 2023, sizable pieces of Chinese Zhuque-2E rockets were located in a cornfield in Minnesota, USA, as well as on a palm plantation in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. These fragments are remnants from rocket launches conducted in September and October 2023. In Minnesota, a farmer uncovered a metal fragment roughly 3 meters in diameter that had rested undisturbed for about six weeks. Earlier, on October 14, 2023, the Stevens County Sheriff's Office received a report about debris matching the upper stage of the Zhuque-2E rocket built by China's LandSpace company.
The Zhuque-2E rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China on September 15, 2023, successfully deploying 10 network satellites into a sun-synchronous polar orbit. It is known that the rocket’s upper stage re-entered the atmosphere uncontrolled over Kansas and traveled towards Minnesota. Residents across the northern Midwest region of the United States witnessed fiery fragments streaking through the sky as the stage descended.
Incidents in Central Kalimantan
Meanwhile, in Central Kalimantan on October 19, 2023, a palm oil plantation worker found an aluminum sheet approximately 9 meters wide. Locals in this remote area had reported hearing a loud impact the day before. Indonesia’s National Agency for Research and Innovation believes this piece also originated from a Zhuque-2E rocket that launched on October 14, 2023, and re-entered the atmosphere over Borneo Island.
Rocket stages re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at extremely high speeds, causing most components to burn up. However, larger or heat-resistant fragments can survive and reach the ground. Had these pieces fallen in densely populated areas, the consequences could have been severe. For context, debris from China's Long March 5B rocket fell in Kalimantan and Malaysia’s Sarawak state in August 2022, and in May 2020, Long March 5B fragments damaged homes in two villages in Ivory Coast.
International law permits affected countries to seek compensation from China for damages caused by falling rocket debris, yet no publicly documented case of China paying such reparations exists to date.
“The debris does not pose a threat to people,” commented the Stevens County Sheriff's Office regarding the Minnesota findings.
The discoveries of Zhuque-2E rocket fragments in both the United States and Indonesia highlight the growing safety concerns tied to commercial space launches. These events underscore the urgent need for global discussions on responsibility and preventive measures to protect populations from the hazards of uncontrolled rocket stage re-entries in the future.