
Copernical Team
Space debris found in rural India likely from 'China rocket'
A large metal ring and sphere that villagers in rural western India said fell from the sky over the weekend could be from a Chinese rocket launched into space last year, officials told local media.
The metal ring—reportedly two to three metres (6.5-10 feet) in diameter and weighing over 40 kilogrammes (90 pounds)—was discovered in a village field in Maharashtra state late on Saturday, district collector Ajay Gulhane told the Press Trust of India.
"We were preparing a community feast, when the sky blazed with the red disc which fell with a bang on an open plot in the village," an unnamed woman in Maharashtra's Chandrapur district told The Times of India.
"People ran to their home fearing (an) explosion and remained inside for nearly half an hour."
Another object—a large, metal ball around half a metre (1.5 feet) in diameter—fell in another village in the district, Gulhane told PTI.
"It has been collected for examination. We had sent (junior officials) to every village in the district to find if more parts of objects, if any, are lying scattered."
There were no reports of injuries or structural damage.
An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official told the Times that the timing of the objects' arrival was the "closest match" to the re-entry times on Saturday for debris from a Chinese rocket launched in February 2021.
Kepler telescope delivers new planetary discovery from the grave

NASA simulator helps to shed light on mysteries of Solar System

Making Tracks to the Delta

NASA's Perseverance rover listens in the thin Martian atmosphere

Magma makes marsquakes rock Red Planet

Roscosmos to Brief Russian Government on Options for Ending ISS Cooperation Soon, Rogozin Says

Aphelion Aerospace secures investment from The Mercury Group and others

Omnispace and Thales Alenia Space report launch of first satellite mission

Blue Canyon Technologies to supply spacecraft buses for HelioSwarm Mission
