The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) is investigating a large annular metal object, about 2.5 m in diameter, weighing 500 kg, believed to be rocket debris.
Annular debris fell on Mukuku village. Image: KSA
Debris fell in Mukuku village, Makueni county, southern Kenya, on December 30, 2004. KSA “blocked the area and recovered debris for further investigation”.
Jonathan McDowell, a satellite tracking expert at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said: “No cosmic objects have been recorded falling in this area. I’m not sure if it is debris from aircraft or not. There is no clear evidence of atmospheric re-entry temperatures”.
However, Darren McKnight, space debris expert at LeoLabs, points out that sometimes space debris is covered with “sacrificial material” that burns up upon re-entry into the atmosphere, exposing the hardware inside.
Inside Outer Space reviewed the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Orbital Debris and Reentry Studies (CORDS) Reentry Database. Results showed that this object may be related to the body of the Atlas Centaur rocket launched in 2004.
This rocket debris, tagged as object 28385, is expected to re-enter on December 30, with a flight path over Africa.
The Atlas Centaur rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 31, 2004, carrying the secret US satellite USA-179.
According to NASA’s Space Science Data Archive, USA-179 is a military satellite of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), launched on an Atlas 2AS rocket from Cape Canaveral. This is the final flight of the Atlas 2 rocket family.
However, McDowell said US Space Force data showed that rocket stage 28385 fell into Lake Baikal in Russia. Therefore, KSA will continue to evaluate the possibility that this is space debris.
Usually most of the rocket’s body almost burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere, but debris falling back to Earth is not uncommon. In 2020, debris from China’s Long March rocket fell on a village in Ivory Coast, destroying several structures but causing no injuries.
In May 2021, the 23-ton core stage of the Long March 5B booster rocket fell after 10 days in Earth orbit.
In January 2022, Persei – the upper stage of Russia’s Angara A5 heavy booster rocket fell out of control through the Earth’s atmosphere and landed in the Pacific Ocean.
Astronomer and satellite tracking expert Jonathan McDowell at the Harvard-Smithsonia Center for Astrophysics said that he analyzed available public data and determined that there would not be a giant, smoking crater. if debris falls on land. “Damage from the remaining debris will be minimal. It may puncture the roof but does not threaten humanity,” McDowell said in a similar incident in 2022.