A space debris metallic circular shape of approx 500kg and from diameter of 2.5 meters crashed near Mukuku village in Makueni county in Kenya on December 30, 2024. The debris, probably a separation ring of a rocketdid not disintegrate during atmospheric re-entry, as it theoretically should have done, crashing to the ground at 3pm local, fortunately without causing damage to things or people. The Kenyan space agency immediately cordoned off the area to collect the fallen fragments and begin analysis following the international protocol for this type of event. Unfortunately, this is not the first time something like this has happened. In the last two years alone there have been two similar episodes, which is always arousing greater concern since this space junk can cause serious damage or pose a risk to people.
Where and when the debris fell
The debris that fell in Kenya has the shape of a metal ring of 500 kg And diameter of 2.5 meters. Preliminary analyzes by the Kenyan space agency seem to point towards spatial nature of this debris, which therefore could be a separation ring of a rocket which did not disintegrate in the atmosphere, as usually happens.
The villagers notified the authorities who arrived on December 31st to cordon off the area and start investigations. Witnesses report that the object that had just fallen was glowing red. Although the space origin is plausible, it cannot be ruled out that this debris belongs to an aircraft given that some experts report that the typical features of overheating from atmospheric re-entry appear to be absent.
The problem of space debris
The debris fell near the village of Mukuku and fortunately did not cause damage to property or people. Given the mass and speed of impact, the object could have caused catastrophic damage to a building, but above all it could have been a serious death threat for people who would have been close to the impact site.
The Kenyan debris unfortunately it is not an isolated casebut it adds to the increasingly large list of similar events. In 2022, for example, a piece of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule fell on a farm in Australia, while last year a Florida family sued NASA over space debris that damaged their home.
So there is one growing concern for space debris, whether in orbit or falling to Earth, caused by the increase in global space activities which in turn only increases the number of objects in orbit. The latter, after their operational life, often become real ones space debris who wander without control until atmospheric re-entry, posing a serious threat to other satellites and the International Space Station, which frequently has to change its orbit to avoid space debris.
