Kenya has notified India of a compensation demand over the 500kilogramme ring that fell in Makueni County from the India Space Research Organisation’s Docking Experiment, Spadex.
The object, Kenya says, risked people's lives and property in Makueni when it fell from the sky on Monday afternoon.
This week, the Kenya Space Agency, which is tasked with fostering responsible space activities, identified the object as a separation ring from a rocket.
“Preliminary assessments indicate that the fallen object is a separation ring from a launch vehicle (rocket). Such objects are usually designed to burn up as they re-enter the earth’s atmosphere or to fall over unoccupied areas, such as the oceans. This is an isolated case, which the agency will investigate and address using the established framework under the International Space law,” Kenya Space Agency said in a statement on Wednesday.
The metallic ring, measuring about approximately 2.5 meters in diameter and weighing about 500 kilogrammes, was red hot when it landed, according to Nduluku Chief James Mateng’e who was among the first people to respond to the incident.
The sound it made when it crash-landed could be heard from kilometres away, locals said.
