`Tanks' For The Memories
December 26th 2011 12:34
Category: Space Probes
Spent fuel tank . Picture: AFP
Strange things fall from the sky from time to time and I guess bladders in the shape of a sphere are no exception.
If you found a strange looking metal ball in the middle of a remote grass land in Namibia
you could be forgiven for thinking that it may have come from outer space.
Perhaps some alien flushed after going to the bathroom unexpectedly detaching the sphere from the space ship finding its way to Earth.
There also stories of people being struck with frozen waste from overhead aircraft.
The frozen “waste” was most likely frozen ice from high flying aircraft and not the other stuff.
When this strange metal ball was discovered it did cause a great deal of curiosity.
NASA and the European Space Agency were asked to investigate.
Who needs NASA or the European Space Agency when all you have to do is type a few key words on the internet.
Hey presto the mystery of the space sphere/bladder thingy has been solved!
The mystery space ball was a fragmented piece of equipment from a spent rocket.
The object was likely to be a spent 39-litre hydrazine bladder tank.
These tanks are used in the Ariane 5 rocket. The sphere did not pose any danger.
Similar looking objects have landed in Australia and Latin America over the passed two decades.
Usually most of the space junk re entering the Earth’s atmosphere burn up, but in some cases fragments will survive the landing impact relatively intact.
Don’t be too surprised if in the future a toilet seat from a Russian unmanned rocket is found in some one’s back yard!
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