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Kenya-Kenya Space Agency (KSA) has confirmed that fragments of metal, believed to be from a rocket, weighing nearly 500 kg, crashed into a village in the country’s north on Monday (Dec 30, 2024).
The space agency, working alongside the local authorities had secured the area and retrieved the debris for further analysis, as per a CBS report.
As of the last update, there had been no report of casualties.
According to the KSA, and as reported by NDTV World, the object was a metallic ring roughly eight feet in diameter that crashed into Mukuku village in the Makueni county.
“Preliminary assessments indicate that the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle,” the agency said.
Notably, a separation ring is a part of a spacecraft and since rockets typically come in stages, each part drops away when it has fulfilled its role in the launch of the vehicle.
“We want to assure the public that the object poses no immediate threat to safety,” the KSA said.
“Our experts will analyze the object, use existing frameworks to identify the owner, and keep the public informed of the next steps and outcomes.”
The incident might be isolated in the sense it has taken place for the first time in Kenya but in the last few years, the menace of space debris has started to affect people on Earth.
Last year, NASA was slapped with a lawsuit by an American family when a piece of falling metal pierced their Florida home.
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