Fact Check: India’s space junk falls in Kenya, prompting calls for compensation? Here is the truth

Hyderabad: A picture of a massive tyre-shaped, seemingly metallic object abandoned in a forest area has gone viral.

Those sharing the image claim it is part of 500 kg of debris that has fallen from India’s space project called the ‘SpaDex mission’. The debris is said to have landed in Makuku Village in Kenya’s Makueni County on Monday (December 30, 2024).

Several social media posts and local media outlets there have blamed India for the space debris. They claimed that Kenya has demanded compensation of USD 100 billion from India.

An African media outlet, The Tanzania Times, published the picture in a report dated January 3 titled “Kenya demands USD 100 billion from India in compensation for its space object crashing onto the village.” The report mentioned that the legal basis for such compensation is based on the International Law Outer Space Treaty (1967). (Archive)

An X user shared the image and wrote, “Kenya demands compensation from India over 500 kg debris from the country’s SpaDex mission which landed at Makuku Village in Makueni County on Monday 30th December. Preliminary investigations by the Kenya Space Agency showed that the metallic object, measuring approximately 2.5 meters in diameter, was a component of a rocket's separation mechanism. Such debris is typically designed to disintegrate upon re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere or land in unpopulated areas, like oceans but in this case, the object landed in a residential area, posing risks to lives and property. (sic)” (Archive)

An X user shared a similar image of a large metallic ring, making the same claim. He wrote, “Over 1,000 pounds of space debris crash in Kenya village. The object was determined to be a separation ring from a rocket, weighing over 1,000 pounds and eight feet in diameter. (sic)”

Fact Check

Image 1

NewsMeter found that the claim of space junk falling onto a village in Kenya is true. However, the claim that it is from an Indian space project is unsubstantiated.

A keyword search led us to reports from The New York Times, CNN and Fox Weather, published between January 1 and 2. These reports detail an incident where a glowing metallic ring, measuring over eight feet in diameter and weighing more than 1,100 pounds, fell from the sky and crash-landed in a remote Kenyan village of Mukuku, in the southern county of Makueni on December 30, 2024. While no injuries were reported, the event alarmed residents, some of whom feared it might be a bomb or a similarly dangerous object.

The Kenya Space Agency identified the debris as a separation ring from a launch rocket. The agency confirmed it is investigating the ring’s origin and ownership.

According to the reports, objects like this are usually designed to disintegrate upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere or to land in unpopulated areas, such as oceans. The Kenya Space Agency described this as an ‘isolated case.’ None of the media outlets reported that the space junk is from India.

The Kenyan Space Agency, in a post on X on January 3, clarified that investigations into the object’s origin are still underway. It stated that ‘no official conclusion has been made linking the debris to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) or any specific space mission.’ The agency also urged the public to exercise caution regarding such claims and to await the release of official findings.

Image 2

The second image featured persons in Indian police uniform which confirmed that it is from India. A reverse image search led us to a report by Space News from April 19, 2022, carrying the same image.

According to the report, a large metal ring and a cylinder-like object fell into rural western India on April 2, 2022, with a preliminary investigation suggesting they could be parts of a Chinese space rocket’s upper stage that re-entered the atmosphere that day.

The Times of India and Times Now also carried the image in their report from April 2022. The reports mentioned that the object was found in a village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.

Therefore, we conclude that claims related to both images are false.