Half-ton burning space junk debris crashes down in Kenyan village
A burning piece of space debris weighing 500 kg plunged into the Earth and landed in a rural Kenyan village.
It was later determined that the scorching piece of metal was the separation ring of a launch rocket that quickly and unexpectedly descended on Mukuku village in Makueni province on Monday.
Kenya Space Agency officials rushed to the scene and retrieved the debris, which is now in the agency’s care.
There are no reports of injuries.
Major Aloyce Were of the Kenya Space Agency told local media that the metal object weighs about 500kg.
Major We added that locals “don’t have to be afraid,” explaining that “it is a part of a space object shaped like a ring, a metal ring, possibly from a rocket separation stage.”
Authorities were still investigating the extent of the damage to the village and the origins of the ring.
A burning piece of space debris weighing 500 kg crashed into Earth and landed in a rural Kenyan village
The metal ring is believed to have belonged to a space object, possibly a rocket, the Kenya Space Agency said
Kenya Space Agency officials rushed to the scene and retrieved the debris, which is now in the agency’s care
It added: ‘We need to assess the impact on the area, identify whose space object it is so that we can use the existing legal mechanisms under international law as far as the Outer Space Treaty is concerned.’
In a separate press release, the space agency said that “such objects are typically designed to burn up if they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere or fall over unoccupied areas such as the oceans.”
“This is an isolated case that the Agency will investigate and address,” it added.
Footage shows the giant metal ring cordoned off with police tape as authorities investigate and villagers crowd around it and watch curiously.
An unnamed villager praised the Kenya Space Agency for its “very quick response,” officials said ‘have shown us as a community that there is no need to worry, we are safe’.
It comes after mmysterious black objects that fell from the sky during a thunderstorm in Thailand left locals baffled, with one couple believing the objects came from space.