Experts from the Kenya Space Agency are investigating after a large metal ring fell onto the village of Mukuku in Makueni County, about 50 km to the southeast of Nairobi, at about 3.00 pm on Monday 30 December 2024. The ring is about 3.5 m in diameter, and weighs about 500 kg, and is described as having been hot when it landed. The current working theory is that the ring may be a separation ring from a multi-stage launch vehicle.
This is the first time a piece of space junk has fallen onto Kenya, and it is unlikely that there will be a repeat in the near future. To date, no-one on Earth has been injured by space junk, but some cases of damage to property have been reported. This is likely to be an increasing problem, as the amount of traffic between Earth and orbit increases every year, and there is no internationally recognised legal code for managing the debris produced by such events. In December 2024 there were 30 rockets launched into orbit by four different space agencies and five commercial organizations.
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