Kenyan authorities opened an investigation on January 1 to identify the origin of the space debris that fell in the village of Mukuku. A half-ton metal ring was found.
In a post on Platform X, the Kenya Space Agency clarified that “investigations into the origin of the object are still ongoing and no official statement has been made linking the debris to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) or any specific space mission.” The agency called on the public on January 3 to “wait for the official results.”
Earlier today, media outlet Nation Africa reported that Kenya had demanded compensation from India, saying the debris came from New Delhi’s Docking Spatial experiment. However, the Kenya Space Agency has refuted the claims.
While Nation Africa has posted this claim, it is important to clarify that investigations into the object’s origin are still ongoing, and no official statement has been issued linking the debris to the Indian Space Research Organization or any specific space mission. Kenya… pic.twitter.com/1icJgs4RIC
— Kenya Space Agency (@SpaceAgencyKE) January 3, 2025
In its January 1 statement, the Kenya Space Agency confirmed that a “metallic object” had fallen from the sky and crashed into the village of Mukuku. This ring, approximately 2.5 meters in diameter and weighing nearly 500 kilograms, would be a “launch vehicle separation ring.”
Panic in Kenya as half-tone glowing space debris crashes into village.
Loud blast sparks bomb fears before object identified as rocket junk
Kenyan Space Agency investigating origin of object identified as launch rocket’s separation ring.
Who’s giving space junk asteroids? pic.twitter.com/m9uQVgsDRe
— RT (@RT_com) January 3, 2025
The Agency confirms that “the object poses no immediate danger to security” and stressed that it was an “isolated case”, with investigators following the “framework established by international law on space”. According to the NTV television channel, an eyewitness described a “loud noise”, initially perceived as a car accident on a nearby road.
The question of space debris
With the increase in spacecraft and satellite launches, more than 14,000 tons of man-made materials have accumulated in low Earth orbit, according to an estimate by the European Space Agency. Researchers at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, estimate that debris and other space junk make up about a third of that mass.
Last March, a massive piece of debris from the International Space Station fell on a house in Florida, while the following month, several metal fragments from a SpaceX capsule were found on a Canadian farm.
An incident similar to the one that recently occurred in Kenya had already occurred in India in April 2022, when a large metal ring fell in a rural area.
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