Metal Sphere Falls From Space on Africa

An unidentified metal sphere has fallen from the sky in Namibia, Africa according to the Agence-France-Presse news agency (AFP). It slammed into the ground hard enough to create a hole 13 inches deep.

AFP reported that the object was made of a "metal alloy known to man," and measured about 43 inches in circumference. It is hollow and appears to be "two halves welded together." Local authorities contacted NASA and the European space agency for help in identifying the mysterious object.

Although the object was found in November, authorities wanted to conduct testing to determine whether the object was dangerous before making any announcements to the public. Police deputy inspector general Vilho Hifindaka told the AFP, "It is not an explosive device, but rather hollow, but we had to investigate all this first."

This isn't the first time one of these metallic balls has fallen from the sky, creating a ruckus. Similar cases have been reported for decades. Cases such as this used to be investigated by the U.S. military as part of Project Moon Dust, whose mission was to retrieve foreign space debris.

According to Open Minds Magazine editor and UFO researcher, Antonio Huneeus, "Some of the Project Moon Dust documents declassified by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) include reports of mysterious metallic spheres in many countries around the world, like Bolivia, Chad and New Zealand. Other similar cases not in the DIA documents were reported in Argentina and Mexico."

Although spheres such as the one recently found in Namibia clearly appear to be man-made, some contend that aliens make them. Huneeus says, "The arguments in favor of the extraterrestrial origin of these spheres made by some ufologists in Mexico and Argentina is that they are extremely hard, almost impossible to burn or cut. But this is what you would expect from a fuel tank for a spacecraft."

 

Follow Alejandro Rojas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/paranormalrptr

Comments

[Brittany Lock]

10:58 PM on 12/29/2011

It's the Toclafane!

[White Raven]

11:37 PM on 12/28/2011

The only thing I'm surprised at in this story is how the hydrazine tank survived the fall without being smashed into bits. I guess it just hit loose dirt or something.

[Demitasse]

09:16 PM on 12/28/2011

According to a commentator on the tech site Gawker: "For anyone wondering what it actually is, it's likely a 39-litre hydrazine bladder tank (based on its apparent size; there are also much larger hydrazine tanks)." Since then the European space company Astrium has said that the tanks are found in the Ariane 5 rocket. Though it has been reported that several such balls have also dropped in southern Africa, Australia and Latin America in the past 20 years, the first successful commercial launch involving the Arianne 5 rocket didn't occur until 10 December 1999.

Hydrazine bladder tank falling from the sky
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/the-internet-kills-space-ball-mystery/story-e6frfku0-1226230536066

Ariane 5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5

[Vanderbil Covington]

02:14 AM on 12/28/2011

"... authorities wanted to conduct testing to determine whether the object was dangerous before making any announcements to the public."
If they didn't know whether the object was dangerous, why wouldn't they want to warn the public!

[Devontate]

12:12 PM on 12/27/2011

Somehow related?

http://atlasobscura.com/place/klerksdorp-spheres