This article was originally published in English
Kenyan authorities discovered an object resembling a metal ring measuring 2.5 m and weighing around 500 kg in a village in the south of the country. According to initial analyses, he could have been attached to a launcher.
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Kenyan authorities have launched an investigation after the discovery of a metal object that could come from a rocket that fell in a village in the south of the country, they announced on Wednesday January 1st. The object, a metal ring about 2.5 m in diameter and weighing about 500 kg, fell on December 30 at around 3 p.m. local time in Mukuku village in Makueni County, the Kenya Space Agency said. (KSA).
“This is an isolated case, which the agency will investigate and address using the framework established by international space law”said the Agency in a press release. “Our experts will analyze the object, use existing frameworks to identify the owner and keep the public informed of next steps and results.”
Joseph Mutua, a resident of the village where the debris was found, told Kenyan news channel NTV that he was tending to his cow when he heard a loud bang. “We didn’t know if it was a bomb or something that fell here”he said. “If the object had fallen on a property, it would have been catastrophic.”
KSA officials rushed to the scene on Tuesday to secure the area and collect debris. KSA Commander Aloyce Were said earlier this week that authorities were assessing the extent of the damage to the village, its residents and their animals.
Discoveries of man-made space debris have occurred before, such as in 2022, when part of a SpaceX Dragon capsule landed on a farm in Australia. Last year, an American family whose house in Florida was hit by a falling piece of metal sued NASA.
The 2023 report from the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University already warned of the risks of space debris. Today, just over 35,000 objects are in orbit, only a quarter of which are operational satellites. The rest is just waste. By 2030, more than 100,000 satellites are expected to be put into orbit. The UN fears massive pollution of space and especially the risks of falls and collusion which would affect our planet.
