11-foot charred metal object, "presumably a space object," found in Minnesota cornfield
A bowl-shaped piece of debris was found in a harvested field in Stevens County. No one was hurt, and state and federal agencies are still trying to figure out what it is and who owns it.
A charred, bowl-shaped metal object about 11 feet across turned up in a harvested cornfield in western Minnesota this week, and authorities think it may have fallen from space, the Stevens County Sheriff's Office said, according to MPR News, KSTP and CBS Minnesota.
Deputies went to the field in Scott Township after a call around 3:30 p.m. Central time (4:30 p.m. ET) on Wednesday, Oct. 14, MPR News reported. The sheriff's office described the item as foreign debris that is "presumably a space object," CBS Minnesota and FOX 9 reported.
No one was injured and no property was damaged, KSTP reported. Officials say the object poses no danger to the public.
Who owns it?
That is still unknown. The sheriff's office notified the Minnesota Duty Officer, and federal agencies came to the site, MPR News reported. The sheriff's office is working with state and federal officials to identify the object, contact its owner and arrange its removal.
Authorities are also trying to determine how and when it landed, KSTP reported. As of about 1:25 p.m. ET Saturday, no agency or company had publicly claimed the object, and officials had not said what it came from.
Sources
- MPR News (Max Sparber), "Possible space debris found in Stevens County cornfield," Oct. 15, 2026, 5:31 p.m. CT: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/15/space-debris-possibly-found-in-stevens-county-minnesota-cornfield
- KSTP (Joseph Swanson), "Possible space junk found in western Minnesota cornfield," Oct. 16, 2026, 8:03 a.m. ET: https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/possible-space-junk-found-in-western-minnesota-cornfield/
- CBS Minnesota (Cole Premo), "11-foot piece of suspected space debris found in western Minnesota cornfield," Oct. 16, 2026, 8:44 a.m. ET: https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/suspected-space-debris-found-in-eastern-minnesota-cornfield/
- FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul (Kilat Fitzgerald), "'Space object' recovered from Stevens County cornfield," Oct. 15, 2026, 7:00 p.m. ET: https://www.fox9.com/news/space-object-recovered-stevens-county-cornfield
