Kenyan officials said on Wednesday they were investigating pieces of metal, believed to be from a rocket, that fell in a small town in the south of the country.
The issue of space junk has increased in tandem with increased space traffic.
The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) said. The object, a metallic ring about 8 feet in diameter and weighing about 1,100 pounds, fell into Mukuku town, in Makueni county, on December 30 at about 3:00 pm local time (1200 GMT).
The KSA, working with other agencies and local authorities, “secured the area and recovered the debris, which is now in the Agency's custody for further investigation.”
He said that “preliminary assessments indicate that the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle,” which is designed to burn up upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. or fall over uninhabited places.
“This is an isolated case, which the agency will investigate and deal with,” the KSA said in a statement.
They said that the object was not a threat to public safety, and they praised the people of the nearby village who quickly informed the authorities.
The KSA said they were working to identify the source of the piece.
Previous examples of human space debris hitting Earth include part of a SpaceX Dragon capsule landing on the 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. A cylindrical object tore through the home from Alejandro Otero in Naples on March 8.
“I was shaking. I was in complete disbelief. What are the chances that something would land on my house with that much force to do that much damage,” said Otero. “I'm very grateful that no one was hurt.”
China has also been criticized by NASA for allowing its large Long March rockets to fall back to Earth after orbit.
Last February, the European Space Agency said a satellite – weighing as much as an adult male rhinoceros – return to ungovernable landreentering the atmosphere over the North Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Hawaii.
