Spherical Object Drops from the Sky in Namibia

By Nancy Atkinson - December 22, 2011 at 6:49 PM UTC | Planetary Science
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Officials from Namibia have been examining a hollow ball that fell from the sky back in November 2011. So far, they haven't had much luck identifying it, so have called in NASA and ESA, hoping the space agencies can provide some answers. The spherical object has a circumference of 1.1 meters (43 inches) and was found in a remote area in the northern part of the country, about 750 kilometers (480 miles) from the capital Windhoek, according to police forensics director Paul Ludik, quoted in an

article by AFP.

Ludik described it as made of a "metal alloy known to man" (so cross alien spacecraft part off the list), weighing six kilograms (13 pounds).

This isn't the first time balls from space have dropped in on unsuspecting countries.

[caption id="attachment_92064" align="aligncenter" width="366" caption="Space spheres found in Australia and Brazil in 2008."]

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Back in 2008

spherical objects fell to Brazil and Australia, and there have been previous reports of similar objects, as well.

After some post-crash forensics, the two objects in 2008 were identified the as a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (or COPV), which were carried on the space shuttles, and are a high pressure container for inert gases. COPVs have been used for a variety of space missions.

They are built with a carbon fiber or Kevlar overcoat to provide reinforcement against the vast pressure gradient between the inside and outside of the container, and so can survive re-entry through Earth's atmosphere.

[caption id="attachment_92065" align="aligncenter" width="330" caption="Composite Pressure Vessels. Credit: NASA"]

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The one in Namibia was found 18 meters from its landing spot – it created a mini-crater 33 centimeters deep and 3.8 meters wide.

Other suggestions of what the object could be is a piece from a space gyroscope, a satellite part, a tank from one of the Apollo missions, or a part of a Russian spacecraft, (which

have been known to crash to the ground,

as well)

Sources:

PhysOrg

,

NASA

, and thanks to Ian O'Neill for his

previous

and

current articles

on this subject

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com