A Chinese rocket deorbited over Minnesota and left this in a farmer's cornfield

Key points

• A Chinese Zhuque-2E rocket's upper stage, measuring 3.35 metres in diameter, re-entered Earth's atmosphere and landed in a Minnesota cornfield on September 15. The stage, which had deployed 10 satellites for China's Qianfan communications network, was intended to deorbit over the ocean, raising concerns about China's space debris management.
• This incident follows a previous Zhuque-2E upper stage breakup in June, which left debris in a busy low-Earth orbit. LandSpace, the rocket's manufacturer, has not commented on the event.
• The rocket's trajectory took it from China, over Antarctica, and then north over the Americas before re-entry.