A charred piece of space debris found in a sheepfold by a farmer in Australia appeared to be from a SpaceX mission, authorities confirmed Thursday, citing AFP.

A piece of metal believed to have fallen on July 9 was discovered last week in Dalgety, an isolated New South Wales village about five hours south-west of Sydney.

“It was both interesting and surprising,” Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist who traveled to the site after being contacted by local farmers in July, told AFP.

He said discovering the piece buried in an empty field reminded him of the sci-fi movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The Australian Space Agency confirmed in a statement that debris had landed on one of the SpaceX missions owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

Tucker said the piece of metal was part of a part thrown out by the Crew-1 capsule when it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in 2021.

Other space debris has also been found at nearby sites and may be related to the SpaceX mission.

Most space debris ends up in the sea, but with the increased activity of the space industry around the world, the amount of debris falling to Earth is expected to increase, he added.

“We have to be aware that there is a probable risk that it will collide with a populated area,” said the Australian Space Agency, which said it was working to reduce the amount of debris and had raised the issue internationally.

Benjamin Reed, a spokesman for SpaceX, said at a press conference that the companies are aware of the information and that “the team is going to look into it.”

“The most important thing, of course, is that there are no casualties or damage,” he added, adding that SpaceX is in contact with the US State Department and the Australian Space Agency.

“That’s part of what can happen,” he said, though SpaceX will “always look for ways to improve” on those issues.

Crew-1 launched from Florida in November 2020 and returned to Earth in May 2021.