According to Kenyan residents quoted by the country’s broadcaster, a huge red-hot object dropped from the sky on Monday afternoon into a Kenyan Village. This prompted an immediate investigation by Kenya’s space agency.
Kenya Space Agency released a statement on Wednesday identifying the object as “a fragment of an object in space”.
The KSA has said that it has taken possession of the object which landed in Mukuku village, located in southern Makueni county. It described it as an apparent space debris measuring about 8 feet wide by 2.5 meters long and weighing approximately 500 kilograms.
The KSA stated, “The Agency wishes to clarify the object, which is a metallic ring of approximately 2.5 meters in size and weighing around 500 kg, is a fragment from a space object.”
The agency stated that preliminary assessments indicate it’s a separation ring of a rocket. It noted that most space debris falls into the oceans or burns before entering Earth’s atmosphere.
It added that the incident is under investigation and likely isolated.
Julius Rotich told Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, the Mbooni Sub County Police commander, that the object had not cooled when the officers arrived on Monday. Residents were cordoned from the area while it cooled.
Residents gathered as the broadcaster showed police tape wrapping around a ring that had fallen into trees and brush.
It said that the KSA was analyzing the object to determine its origin.