Fess up - who's junk is this?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

Ring Landed in a village in Kenya. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cx2vzql8zndo

 

Edited Friday at 08:05 PM by JoeSchmuckatelli

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

FWIW - the Reddit commentary and puns are hilarious. 

 

[darthgently]

55 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Ring Landed in a village in Kenya. 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cx2vzql8zndo

 

From what I read that part is only used on the ground when preparing the payload. A jig of some type. 2.5m.  I’m thinking test payload from who knows when.  Why am I thinking China?  Maybe?

[darthgently]

Ok, source has corrected.  It might be from upper stage of Arianne V184

 

[SunlitZelkova]

I’m honestly surprised, my money was on something Soviet.

[darthgently]

14 minutes ago, SunlitZelkova said:

I’m honestly surprised, my money was on something Soviet.

We still don’t know for sure but apparently it is visually similar to an Arianne ring

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

2 hours ago, SunlitZelkova said:

something Soviet.

From Reddit: Turret Ring.

[monophonic]

The way it's propped up in those pics, I say there is no way that thing weights anywhere near half a ton. So my bet is on the Ariane adapter.

[Nuke]

On 1/5/2025 at 8:35 PM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

From Reddit: Turret Ring.

for some reason it looked more like a tank part than a rocket part. probibly because the gearing and the fact that it looks like a fairly solid piece of metal. also pay attention to the way the ring is joined together with 10 big fasteners (bolts or perhaps plug welds). it looks like it was made out of four identical pieces. if this was an aerospace part it would not require such robust joinery and it would be machined out to be mostly hollow as well.

on second though the gearing doesnt look like gearing after zooming in. given the spaces betrween the teeth are a lot wider than the teeth themselves, and the very square profile of the tee (they normally follow an involute curve).

Edited yesterday at 08:36 AM by Nuke

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

The "gearing" isn't gearing.  Those are recesses for bolt heads, as far as I can tell.  The ends are machined with what looks like a hex-head hollow space.  It's why I think it's a rocket fuel tank part.

This image shows the reverse side of the image above: Investigation opened after 1,100-pound rocket debris crashes in Kenya

(Image is the first image of a video) https://san.com/cc/investigation-opened-after-1100-pound-rocket-debris-crashes-in-kenya/

The video shows a bunch of different angles; some show the 'fuzzy' stuff is apparently a sealant at a join between metal pieces and there is a couple of different layers of metal joined under the bolt area.

Edited yesterday at 02:00 PM by JoeSchmuckatelli

[darthgently]

5 hours ago, Nuke said:

for some reason it looked more like a tank part than a rocket part. probibly because the gearing and the fact that it looks like a fairly solid piece of metal. also pay attention to the way the ring is joined together with 10 big fasteners (bolts or perhaps plug welds). it looks like it was made out of four identical pieces. if this was an aerospace part it would not require such robust joinery and it would be machined out to be mostly hollow as well.

on second though the gearing doesnt look like gearing after zooming in. given the spaces betrween the teeth are a lot wider than the teeth themselves, and the very square profile of the tee (they normally follow an involute curve).

I think it has some hollowed out annular area on the side we can’t see and is likely aluminum.  If the upper payload adapter of a stacked Arianne payload then the teeth are for indexing and preventing payload twisting shear from roll.

But I admit I’m heavily biased by McDowell’s estimation.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

5 hours ago, Nuke said:

tank part than a rocket part

tank of a rocket - not my kind of tank!

 

5 hours ago, Nuke said:

aerospace part it would not require such robust joinery

For an advanced program, maybe - but there's been a lot of players entering the field lately.

[darthgently]

1 hour ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

tank of a rocket - not my kind of tank!

 

For an advanced program, maybe - but there's been a lot of players entering the field lately.

Looking closer I think it is four sections of curved hollow rectangular aluminum extrusion, so a lot of empty space around the ring internally.  The teeth are added to the extrusions by forming, welding, or other.  Just guessing.  If it is real 1100 lbs then it would be solid but that doesn’t seem very aerospacey and that little stick propping it up just looks like it would snap holding up ~500 lbs

Edited 22 hours ago by darthgently

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

1 hour ago, darthgently said:

that little stick propping it up

looks like rusted square barstock or tube to me.

I've seen some janky stuff out in the world - not everyone follows good OSHA procedures.  Lean a half ton of something on a piece of old rusted iron?  Sure- why not!

 

[darthgently]

39 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

looks like rusted square barstock or tube to me.

I've seen some janky stuff out in the world - not everyone follows good OSHA procedures.  Lean a half ton of something on a piece of old rusted iron?  Sure- why not!

 

1/4 ton, but yeah.  I think you could be right about the bar stock though

[Nuke]

angle iron is pretty robust.

Edited 14 hours ago by Nuke

[darthgently]

Just realized my 1/4 ton comment may not be clear.  A ton is 2000 lbs and the bar is only holding up at most 1/2 the weight 

[Nuke]

your talking 500 pounds, i can legpress that (granted the last time i tried was in 1999).

and half that, angle iron's got it. the point of failure would be the soil its standing in, here it would probibly push it all the way in, we got soft ground. but in packed earth it would stay up. the angle resists tensile loads and the steel can handle the compression easy.

Edited 2 hours ago by Nuke