Remember that metal ring that fell from the sky? We still don’t know where it came from

It’s been two weeks since a large metal ring fell on a village in Kenya, but authorities are still unable to pinpoint where it came from. The fallen object is raising concerns about how difficult it is to track space debris and holding those responsible accountable.

The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) is still investigating the origin of a mysterious object falling from the sky to Mukuku Village, Makueni County on the morning of Monday 30 December 2024. But to this day, the origin of the oval-shaped fragment remains a mystery. Although the ring was initially thought to be space debris, there is little evidence linking it to a specific rocket or satellite.

The metal ring is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) wide and weighs about 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms). An initial assessment suggested the object was a separation ring – a component used by rockets to attach payloads during launch, and the ring ensures that they are placed in orbit before falling back to Earth. Separation rings are generally designed to burn up on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere or break up into smaller pieces that fall into uninhabited regions of the ocean.

a statement Kenya’s space agency, which is stationed at X, denied claims that the villagers would be compensated, denying rumors that the Indian Space Research Organization was responsible for the facility. “The Kenya Space Agency and relevant authorities are engaged in the matter to ensure a thorough and accurate assessment. We advise the public to be wary of such reports and wait for official results,” KSA wrote in X.

Another culprit was later namedobject 33155 (2008-034C), Ariane SYLDA adapter from flight V184. SYLDA is a hollow shell placed over one payload so that another payload can be placed on top of it, and it was launched on July 7, 2008. After launch, SYLDA remained in geostationary transfer orbit and re-entered on 30 December. According to the Space Force’s orbital tracking division (the same day as the ring event).

Again, this is just speculation. “Once objects reach low-altitude orbit, the Space Force has a poor ability to track objects at such low inclinations, which explains the lack of tracking in the last week,” said Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, an expert on space tracking. he wrote in a blog post. “That means we can’t be sure when or where it re-entered, especially if the Space Force estimate is really an extrapolation of data from a week ago.”

The lack of evidence led McDowell to question whether the object had even fallen from space. “It has been suggested that the ring is space debris, but the evidence is marginal,” he said. “I’m not entirely sure the ring is space debris.”

Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in astrodynamics at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, agrees that the metal ring did not come from the Ariane rocket’s SYLDA adapter. However, he points to other evidence that suggests it is space debris. “In addition to the metal ring in the images, other fragments that appear to be space debris, such as carbon coating and what appears to be insulating foil, were found several kilometers away from it,” Langbroek said. he wrote in a blog.

The ongoing mystery of where the metal ring came from highlights the increased risk of falling space debris, whose origins can sometimes be difficult to trace. In March 2023, a two-kilogram cylindrical object It fell off the roof of a house in Florida. The object was later identified as a fallen piece of a large pallet of old batteries NASA announced that it will launch from the International Space Station in March 2021 and fly through the Earth’s atmosphere. The family whose house was damaged sued NASA for financial damages. However, if space debris is left unclaimed, then the damage inflicted will have no repercussions.

On average, 200 to 400 human-made objects reenter the Earth’s atmosphere each year, so the chance of space debris falling into populated areas is slim, but still not zero. The rules governing such events are not entirely rigid. The 1972 Liability Convention states that the sending country is obliged to pay compensation for any damage caused by a space object in orbit or on Earth. However, the convention states that a company or entity is only liable for its space debris if it is negligent in some way, but it does not define what that negligence would be.

Things get even clearer when it comes to stray pieces of debris, as evidenced by the mysterious ring that landed in Kenya.