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04-01-2025
NAIROBI: A huge red-hot object fell from the sky into a Kenyan village on Monday afternoon according to local residents cited by Kenya’s National Broadcaster, prompting an immediate investigation by the country’s national space agency.
The object has since been identified as a “fragment of a space object,” Kenya’s Space Agency (KSA) said in a statement Wednesday.
KSA said it has taken custody of the object that landed in the remote Mukuku Village, describing it as apparent space junk measuring 2.5 meters (about 8 feet) wide and weighing 500 kg (about 1,100 pounds).
“The Agency wishes to clarify that the object, a metallic ring measuring approximately 2.5 meters in diameter and weighing about 500 kg is a fragment of a space object,” KSA said.
Preliminary assessments suggest it is a separation ring from a rocket, KSA said, noting that space debris more typically falls into the ocean or burns up before entering the earth’s atmosphere.
The fallen object is likely an isolated case and is still under investigation, KSA also said.
Julius Rotich, Mbooni Sub County Police Commander told Kenya’s National Broadcaster that the object was still hot when officers arrived Monday, and that residents had to be cordoned off from the area until it cooled down.
The broadcaster showed images of police tape wrapped around the ring that had fallen into some trees and brush, as residents gathered around.
KSA is analyzing the object and working to confirm where exactly it came from, it said.
Official statement
Following the discovery of a metallic fragment of a space object in Mukuku Village, Makueni County, the Kenya Space Agency has issued the following statement. Read more for details on the incident, preliminary findings, and next steps. pic.twitter.com/n8gsvoKku4January 1, 2025
The agency thanked the residents of Mukuku Village, local leadership, and media outlets for their swift actions in reporting and disseminating the incident.
Possible link?
An early review by Inside Outer Space of the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) Reentry Database suggested a possible link to an incoming rocket body associated with an Atlas Centaur launch back in 2004.
That rocket body leftover, tagged as object 28385, was predicted to reenter on Dec. 30 at 21:33 UTC ± 2 hours, with a flight path taking it over Africa.
The Atlas Centaur rocketed out of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Aug. 31, 2004 carrying a classified USA-179 satellite.
According to the NASA Space Science Data Coordination Archive, USA-179 is an American military satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), launched by an Atlas 2AS rocket from Cape Canaveral. It was the last flight of the Atlas 2 models.
However, reentry tracker McDowell said US Space Force data showed the 28385 rocket stage reentered over Lake Baikal in Russia.
So yes, further official, KSA assessment of this speculative space debris prospect is likely forthcoming.
The last Atlas 2 rocket ever to fly launched skyward in last month, successfully delivering a US reconnaissance satellite into space and ending a chapter in rocket history. (Int’l News Desk)
