PHOENIX – Navajo Nation officials in eastern Arizona are trying to determine if a satellite or a high-altitude weather balloon crash-landed in a remote area of the reservation.
Tully Begay, vice president of the tribe’s Dennehotso Chapter, told The Arizona Republic that the object landed about 1,200 feet from his home while he was away in Tuba City.
A Navajo Nation Council delegate said the gray object appeared to have four large solar panels with an orange parachute.
Navajo Police Department spokeswoman Christina Tsosie said officers responded to the area after receiving reports about an object that fell from the sky Wednesday and there were no reports of any injuries or property damage.
Tsosie described the object as a satellite, which she said crash-landed in the remote area of Dennehotso, a community about 25 miles east of Kayenta.
Tsosie said the cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known and the “satellite material” was released to employees from a company called Polar Field Services, the Republic said.
The newspaper said that according to Polar Field Services’ website, the Colorado-based firm specializes in providing logistics and support for expeditions to locations in extreme climates.