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The “red and hot” ring- suspected to be rocket parts- was found by villagers, the Kenyan Space Agency said, adding that it “secured the area and retrieved the debris“.
The fallen object is likely an isolated case and is still under investigation, the space agency said.
A large metallic ring, suspected to be debris from space, crashed in Kenya’s Mukuku village, the country’s space agency said, prompting an immediate investigation. The “red and hot” ring- suspected to be rocket parts- was found by villagers, the Kenyan Space Agency said, adding that it “secured the area and retrieved the debris“.
It added, “The agency wishes to clarify that the object, a metallic ring measuring 2.5 metres in diameter and weighing about 500kg, is a fragment of a space object. Preliminary assessments indicate that the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle.”
The fallen object is likely an isolated case and is still under investigation, the space agency said. Rocket debris burns up during re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere or to fall over unoccupied areas such as the oceans.
Julius Rotich, Mbooni Sub County Police Commander, said that the object was still hot when officers arrived. Residents had to be cordoned off from the area until it cooled down. Images from the area showed police tape wrapped around the ring as residents gathered around.
Space observer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks rocket movements, said the Kenyan agency could be “mistaken” about the source of the debris as it could not have come from a space shuttle’s rocket booster. He said, “Totally impossible. The SRBs never reached orbit and have not been ‘in the sky’ since 2011. I’m not convinced it’s not from an airplane. Don’t see obvious evidence of reentry heating.”
