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Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

nation.africa

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Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#21

Post by Danmctree »

buildbot wrote: post #12
jamieplex wrote: post #10

Approximately 8' diameter (other commenters pointed out a more reasonable size) solid steel ring gear (riveted together from 4 parts). Doesn't look anything like a "separation ring", and certainly isn't large enough. Plus it is solid steel. I am kinda doubting the whole story at this point. No way it is from a rocket (too heavy, too low-tech, no ring gears in rocketry), and doubtful from any commercial aircraft (agai…

The rust does stand out as kind odd, not many aerospace materials rust??? How fast would you have to spin a gear ring to say, launch it on a ballistic trajectory and have it go supersonic? Maybe a factory somewhere had a _really_ catastrophic accident?

There have been a bunch of very powerful non-nuclear explosions. Perhaps a part of an exploding ship such as in the halifax explosion or the Princess Irene?

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#22

Post by petee »

buildbot wrote: post #12
jamieplex wrote: post #10

Approximately 8' diameter (other commenters pointed out a more reasonable size) solid steel ring gear (riveted together from 4 parts). Doesn't look anything like a "separation ring", and certainly isn't large enough. Plus it is solid steel. I am kinda doubting the whole story at this point. No way it is from a rocket (too heavy, too low-tech, no ring gears in rocketry), and doubtful from any commercial aircraft (agai…

The rust does stand out as kind odd, not many aerospace materials rust??? How fast would you have to spin a gear ring to say, launch it on a ballistic trajectory and have it go supersonic? Maybe a factory somewhere had a _really_ catastrophic accident?

Things tend to burn up in re-entry if they're not designed for it, and this wasn't designed for it. Many metals oxidize when super heated

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#23

Post by petee »

jamieplex wrote: post #10

Approximately 8' diameter (other commenters pointed out a more reasonable size) solid steel ring gear (riveted together from 4 parts). Doesn't look anything like a "separation ring", and certainly isn't large enough. Plus it is solid steel. I am kinda doubting the whole story at this point. No way it is from a rocket (too heavy, too low-tech, no ring gears in rocketry), and doubtful from any commercial aircraft (agai…

The rivets and joints are very much aerospace style.

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#24

Post by LorenDB »

philipwhiuk wrote: post #9
sebmellen wrote: post #8

Do we have any idea which rocket this came from?

I asked Johnathan McDowell, who tracks space objects alongside his main job working on Chandra. He's much less convinced it's from a rocket. https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3leq2wb... There's not any great candidates.

It's "Jonathan", not "Johnathan". I see this misspelling often and it bothers me every time.

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#25

Post by mkl »

jamieplex wrote: post #10

Approximately 8' diameter (other commenters pointed out a more reasonable size) solid steel ring gear (riveted together from 4 parts). Doesn't look anything like a "separation ring", and certainly isn't large enough. Plus it is solid steel. I am kinda doubting the whole story at this point. No way it is from a rocket (too heavy, too low-tech, no ring gears in rocketry), and doubtful from any commercial aircraft (agai…

An earlier article [1] linked in this one says about 1.2m radius, so ~2.4m or ~8ft diameter. At 48 seconds in the video there's a man standing next to the propped up side and it comes up to his chest, so that seems believable (the other side is down a slope).

It seems surprising it weighs 500kg though, as it's held up by a thin iron/steel pipe/bar. If it's solid mild steel at 7850kg/m^3, with an outer radius of 1.2m and inner radius of 1.05m, and a thickness of 4cm, that would be (π*1.2^2 - π*1.05^2)*.04*7850 ≈ 333kg. If the inner radius is 1.0m and thickness is 5cm, that would be ~543kg, so maybe it is that heavy.

Edit: The tooth profile looks strange for a gear. There's a clear but potato-resolution view at 36s in the video. The teeth have flat tops with sharp corners, the sides are pretty vertical, and the gaps have very rounded bottoms.

[1] https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/makueni/mystery-object-...

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#26

Post by Stevvo »

jamieplex wrote: post #10

Approximately 8' diameter (other commenters pointed out a more reasonable size) solid steel ring gear (riveted together from 4 parts). Doesn't look anything like a "separation ring", and certainly isn't large enough. Plus it is solid steel. I am kinda doubting the whole story at this point. No way it is from a rocket (too heavy, too low-tech, no ring gears in rocketry), and doubtful from any commercial aircraft (agai…

You're just making stuff up? Photos show diameter is larger than human height, maybe 8'. Only indication it's "solid steel" is you said it is.

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#28

Post by jamieplex »

LorenDB wrote: post #24
philipwhiuk wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked Johnathan McDowell, who tracks space objects alongside his main job working on Chandra. He's much less convinced it's from a rocket. https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3leq2wb... There's not any great candidates.

It's "Jonathan", not "Johnathan". I see this misspelling often and it bothers me every time.

sorry, I copied the other guy...

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#29

Post by jamieplex »

Stevvo wrote: post #26
jamieplex wrote: post #10

Approximately 8' diameter (other commenters pointed out a more reasonable size) solid steel ring gear (riveted together from 4 parts). Doesn't look anything like a "separation ring", and certainly isn't large enough. Plus it is solid steel. I am kinda doubting the whole story at this point. No way it is from a rocket (too heavy, too low-tech, no ring gears in rocketry), and doubtful from any commercial aircraft (agai…

You're just making stuff up? Photos show diameter is larger than human height, maybe 8'. Only indication it's "solid steel" is you said it is.

sorry, I estimated from the grainy footage. Relax, man...

Re: Object that fell from the skies identified as separation ring from a rocket

#30

Post by jamieplex »

petee wrote: post #23
jamieplex wrote: post #10

Approximately 8' diameter (other commenters pointed out a more reasonable size) solid steel ring gear (riveted together from 4 parts). Doesn't look anything like a "separation ring", and certainly isn't large enough. Plus it is solid steel. I am kinda doubting the whole story at this point. No way it is from a rocket (too heavy, too low-tech, no ring gears in rocketry), and doubtful from any commercial aircraft (agai…

The rivets and joints are very much aerospace style.

ok....
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