But the news release still left one glaring question: What exactly was it that crashed into a nondescript cornfield?
The mystery object, tagged with a serial number, was believed to have been lying undetected in the field for about six weeks, local outlets reported, including the Rapid City Post and NBC affiliates KARE 11 and 9News.
That information is partly what has led some experts to conclude that the debris is most likely part of an upper stage of a Chinese rocket that launched around that time. The Zhuque-2E rocket, which has an upper stage matching the diameter of the object in Minnesota, launched in mid-September to deploy a batch of satellites.
The upper stage, which is the section that flies orbit after stage separation, reentered over the upper Midwest, with its fiery debris reportedly being witnessed across the region, space news outlets Ars Technica and IFLScience both reported.
For now, though, an official explanation is still pending.
