A fisherman in Brazils Amazon region has found a large piece of debris from a European space launch. The man said he found the metal object floating on a remote river in the municipality of Salinopolis. The debris has been confirmed as coming from a satellite launched from the Kourou base, in neighbouring French Guiana, last July. The piece bears the logo of the UK Space Agency and Arianespace - the European satellite company. A spokeswoman for the UK Space Agency, Julia Short, confirmed that the debris was from the launch of Europes largest telecommunications satellite last year. It is the launch vehicle payload shroud from the Alphasat launch last year. It probably landed in the Atlantic and then floated inland, Alphasat, described as Europes most sophisticated telecommunications satellite, was launched from the Kourou base on 25 July. Brazilian authorities in northern Para state said they would contact the UK Space Agency and ask them to collect the object. According to local reports, it took more than 10 people to retrieve the panel from the riverbank.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 16:18:01 +0000
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