CUTTOLI-CORTICCHIATO (20) 07.04.2021

On Wednesday 7 April 2021, between 20:35 and 20:40, a witness and his wife in Cuttoli-Corticchiato (20) saw a luminous phenomenon moving silently through the night sky. Detailed analysis in the attached investigation report identified a SpaceX Falcon 9 stage deorbiting after deployment of its Starlink satellites, before a controlled descent into the ocean. GEIPAN assessed the evidential strength as good, with 1 account and a usable video. It defines evidential strength here as the quantity of information considered reliable that is collected for an account. GEIPAN based the identification on the diffuse white point-like appearance, typical of residual gas vented from a rocket stage and illuminated by sunlight at about 270 km altitude; steady, straight movement; and confirmation by CNES's operational orbitography centre that the stage was present at the initial and final sighting azimuths. The phenomenon may actually have had a butterfly shape, although that was not clearly distinguishable with the naked eye or in the video, owing to the smartphone camera's poor resolution. GEIPAN explains that visibility of the gas depended on several circumstances: controlled re-entry of the second stage, with an engine restart and tank passivation; the restart taking place near France; and night having fallen at ground level while the stage remained sunlit. Sunlight could therefore illuminate the gas, potentially including propellants, vented from the propulsion stage. The source describes conditions as if sunset had taken place about 1 hour before the observation. GEIPAN classified the case A: observation of a Falcon 9 rocket stage during deorbiting.