A large metal ring and sphere that villagers in western India say fell from the sky over the weekend may have come from a Chinese rocket launched into space last year.
Posted at 9:41 a.m.
The metal ring – which is said to be two to three meters in diameter and weighing more than 40 kilograms – was discovered on Saturday evening in a field in a village in the state of Maharashtra.
“We were preparing for a community party, when the sky ignited with a red disc that fell with a crash in a field in the village,” said the Times of India a witness from Chandrapur district, Maharashtra. “People ran home fearing (a) explosion and stayed inside for almost half an hour. »
Another object – a large metal ball about half a meter in diameter – fell in another village in the district.
An official from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) told the Times that the time of arrival of the objects was “closest” to the reentry times of debris from a Chinese rocket launched in February 2021.
In 2020, debris from another Chinese rocket fell on villages in Côte d’Ivoire, causing structural damage but no injuries or deaths.