Fess up - who's junk is this?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

"It was suggested that the ring is space debris, but the evidence is marginal," wrote Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. McDowell is highly regarded for his analysis of space objects. "The most likely space-related possibility is the reentry of the SYLDA adapter from the Ariane V184 flight, object 33155. Nevertheless, I am not fully convinced that the ring is space debris at all," he wrote

Another prominent space tracker, Marco Langbroek, believes it's plausible that the ring came from space, so he investigated further into objects that may have returned around the time of the object's discovery in Kenya. In a blog post written Wednesday he noted that apart from the metal ring, other fragments looking consistent with space debris—including material that looks like carbon wrap and isolation foil—were found several kilometers away from the ring.

Like McDowell, Langbroek concluded that the most likely source for the object was an Ariane V launch that took place back in July 2008, in which the European rocket lofted two satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/a-glowing-ring-of-metal-fell-to-earth-and-no-one-has-any-idea-what-it-is/

 

ESA of course denies it's theirs. 

[magnemoe]

On 1/7/2025 at 4:38 PM, darthgently said:

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

Should it not be have burn marks, I assume it came down with other stuff who burned away. 
Starting to think hoax, some weird machine part some jokers dumped in the forest for an laugh. A bit depend on distance from roads and tracks. Its not something you carry trough thick underbrush for many km. 
 

[AckSed]

Side note: I saw the statement on the debris from the Kenya Space Agency, and I just had to stop and think at the fact they have a space agency.

[monophonic]

2 hours ago, AckSed said:

Side note: I saw the statement on the debris from the Kenya Space Agency, and I just had to stop and think at the fact they have a space agency.

Not just a Space Agency either. The Broglio Space Center was an active launch site from 1964 to 1988, and it is still in use as a monitoring and control site. It is also currently being considered for reactivation for launches. Granted the site is operated by the Italian Space Agency, but Kenyan governement is wise to have their own organization looking after them.

Plus they have the perfect claim as the real world owner of the acronym KSA. In my eyes that is all the reason a country needs to have a space agency.

[SunlitZelkova]

18 hours ago, AckSed said:

Side note: I saw the statement on the debris from the Kenya Space Agency, and I just had to stop and think at the fact they have a space agency.

Quite a few countries do even if they don’t have any launch apparatus. Their purpose is mainly operating communications satellites, and they sometimes contribute small experiments to the ISS or Tiangong.

[Fizzlebop Smith]

16 hours ago, monophonic said:

 

Plus they have the perfect claim as the real world owner of the acronym KSA. In my eyes that is all the reason a country needs to have a space agency.

My mind just melted because this makes perfect sense.