Kenyan authorities said Wednesday they were investigating a piece of metal believed to be a rocket that crashed in a village in the country’s south.
The problem of space debris is increasing in parallel with the increase in space traffic.
According to the Kenya Space Agency (KSA), the object, a metal ring approximately 8 feet in diameter and weighing approximately 1,100 pounds, was spotted in Mukuku village, Makueni district, on Dec. 30 at around 3:00 p.m. local time. collided with.
KSA worked with other agencies and local authorities to “secure the area and recover the debris. It is now under KSA control for further investigation.”
“Preliminary evaluation indicates that the falling object is a separation ring from the launch vehicle,” the report said, “and the ring was designed to burn up or fall into an uninhabited area upon atmospheric entry.” He said there was.
“This is an isolated incident and authorities will investigate and take action,” KSA said in a statement.
Officials said the object did not pose a threat to public safety and praised nearby villagers who quickly alerted authorities.
KSA said it is working to determine the source of this work.
Previous examples of man-made space junk hitting Earth include part of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule that landed on an Australian sheep farm in 2022.
And earlier this year, NASA faced a lawsuit From an American family whose Florida home was hit by a falling piece of metal. cylindrical object broke through the house Alejandro Otero’s testimony in Naples on March 8th. He told CBS Fort Myers, Fla., affiliate WINK-TV that his son called him about a crashed object while he was on vacation.
“I was shaking. I just couldn’t believe it. What were the chances that something could fall on my house with that much force and cause so much damage?” Otero said. “We are very grateful that no one was hurt.”
China has also been criticized by NASA for allowing its giant Long March rocket to fall back to Earth after orbiting.
Last February, the European Space Agency announced that a satellite weighing as much as an adult male rhinoceros Return to Earth uncontrollablere-entering the atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Hawaii.
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