A mysterious ring from space lands in a Kenyan village

He January 1Kenyan villagers welcomed the New Year with great bang when a huge ring from space landed outside their homes. The positive thing is that there were no injuries or property damage. However, he once again reveals the dangers that space debris.

The metal fragment is a huge ring of 500 kilograms of mass and 2 and a half meters in diameter.. Experts Kenya Space Agency They believe it comes from rocket separation stage. However, the person responsible for this large piece of space junk has still not been found.

When they find it, if they find it, they plan take appropriate legal measures. While there have been no reports of any damage, it is becoming increasingly clear that space debris can cause a dangerous incident both in space and here on Earth. It is important to tighten measures to prevent this from happening, but also to ensure that everyone takes responsibility for their waste.

The danger of space debris

When a rocket, satellite or any other man-made object is launched into space, it performs its function and then remains aground, usually orbiting our planet until the moment comes when it leaves orbit and. returns through the Earth’s atmosphere. When this happens, it is expected to burn due to atmospheric friction, so only very small fragmentsincapable of causing any harm. In other cases, space agencies conduct controlled re-entries to ensure that an object, even if it falls in large pieces, does so in the ocean without causing damage.

Unfortunately, this is not always possible. own SpaceXElon Musk’s space company has already taken responsibility for landing most of its spacecraft near a populated area in the mountains Asheville, in North Carolina. Suspicion about SpaceX already arose in March 2022, when a Brazilian farmer was awakened in the middle of the night by what sounded like a large explosion. When he went out to see what it was, he discovered a large piece of space junk in space. jungle zone very close to your home.

Closer was debris from the International Space Station that fell on a Florida home last April. Thus, many cases have been documented in which, fortunately, no human harm was reported. But that luck may be running out. According to a study published in 2022, the likelihood of a piece of space debris falling on a person in the next decade is 10%. This is more than likely, which is why what happened in Kenya is a warning of what could be. It makes sense that their space agency would want to take action.

Danger is also in space

The risks of space debris extend beyond the possibility of an accidental return to Earth. Serious accidents can also happen in space itself. This is because there is more and more space debris. As an example, the data given in an article on this topic published in Business Insider. Between 2008 and 2017, an average of 82 orbital rockets were launched into space per year. Then, between 2018 and 2022, this figure rose to 130 missiles per year. But in 2024 all records were broken 250 launches of this type.

Remains of most of these missiles They accumulate in Earth’s orbit.. The more there are, the more likely it is that collisions will occur between them, which can lead to a dangerous accident. domino effect. For example, satellites that are still operational could be damaged, affecting communications here on Earth. Space observations can be altered and even ships, manned or unmanned, en route may be affected as a result. There will also be an increased risk of uncontrolled re-entry. All this for the sake of accumulating space debris, without thinking about the consequences.

Until something like Kenya happens, everything will remain an anecdote. But it’s a matter of time before we have to deal with something much more dangerous.