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    Mysterious 'Space Ball' Crashes in Namibia

    By SPACE.com Staff
    Space.com     | SPACE.com – Thu, Dec 22, 2011

    A strange metal ball dropped out of the sky and slammed into the remote grassland of northern Namibia recently, according to press reports.

    The 14-inch-wide (35-centimeter) metallic sphere hit the ground about 480 miles (750 kilometers) north of Windhoek, the African country's capital. It left a crater 13 inches (33 cm) deep and 12.5 feet (3.8 meters) across, the Agence-France Presse (AFP) reported Thursday (Dec. 22).

    The metal "space ball" weighs 13 pounds (6 kilograms). It has a rough surface and appears to consist of two halves that were welded together, according to AFP.

    The mystery sphere was discovered in mid-November, but local authorities held off on announcing the find until they could perform a few tests. They determined it poses no danger to the public.

    "It is not an explosive device, but rather hollow, but we had to investigate all this first," police deputy inspector general Vilho Hifindaka told AFP.

    However, Hifandaka and his colleagues still don't know what the object is or where exactly it came from. They've contacted NASA and the European Space Agency for help, AFP reported.

    Locals apparently heard several small explosions a few days before the ball was found. Similar spheres have also been found in Australia and Central America over the last two decades, local authorities said.

    Quite a bit of space junk has rained from the sky this year. In September, for example, NASA's defunct Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) — a 6.5-ton craft that monitored climate from 1991 until 2005 — plunged into the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

    Just a month later, Germany's 2.7-ton Roentgen Satellite (ROSAT) fell to Earth over the Indian Ocean. Nobody on the ground was injured by either satellite crash.

    An even bigger spacecraft will plummet to Earth soon. Russia's failed Phobos-Grunt Mars probe got stuck in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, and it's been circling lower and lower ever since. Most experts predict the 14.5-ton spacecraft will come crashing down by mid-January.

    Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

     
    • A Yahoo! user
      A Yahoo! user  •  Greenville, South Carolina  •  5 mths ago
      This is obviously a "Knowledge Globe." All the planets, with intelligent life, have them. The size of the globe proportionally represents the current understanding, by the planet's inhabitants, about the existence of life on earth and other locations throughout the universe.

      The "Disinformation Globe" is going to fall to the earth at the end of next year. It's bigger than the planet Jupiter!
    • Rambo
      Rambo  •  Tampa, Florida  •  5 mths ago
      Its one of those french breast implants.
    • mad dog
      mad dog  •  Santa Barbara, California  •  5 mths ago
      Just an empty keger...did they find the tap for it ???? I knew those astronaut were doing more than scientific work.....
    • THE BANISHED
      THE BANISHED  •  5 mths ago
      SPACEBALLS??? #$%$ there goes the planet................
      • Meghan
        Meghan 5 mths ago
        I said fire a warning shot ACROSS her nose, not UP it!
      • Robert
        Robert 5 mths ago
        Hahahaha, that's great man thanks, I needed that :)
      • Marcus
        Marcus 5 mths ago
        Yup, that is EXACTLY the same quote that came to my mind, Angry.
    • Cntry Ga white girl
      Cntry Ga white girl  •  Atlanta, Georgia  •  5 mths ago
      We will never know the truth about anything cause the government people are all a bunch of LIARS and I do not trust the government when it comes to anythng.
      • anthony
        anthony 5 mths ago
        Finally someone who gets it, notice how they added the sat's to divert the attention to make people think...oooh just another sat part.
    • Um...riddlemedis!
      Um...riddlemedis!  •  5 mths ago
      Probably hung-out in-front of, and slightly below Uranus before it came...
      • flip33
        flip33 5 mths ago
        Gross. But thumbs up for creativity!
    • Yank in Dallas
      Yank in Dallas  •  5 mths ago
      Doesn't anybody find it odd that there is no mention of WHAT it is??? Surely they've had enough time to determine this by now. This shouldn't have been reported until someone can determine WHAT it is and WHERE it came from (its welded together so its safe to assume its man made). Is someone missing a satellite?
      • T Dolby
        T Dolby 5 mths ago
        What, aliens can't weld :-0 ?
    • Michael 'KESS'
      Michael 'KESS'  •  Syracuse, New York  •  5 mths ago
      GLOBAL WARMING............Thats what the problem is! It obviousley causes articles from space to crask to earth!
    • Tim
      Tim  •  5 mths ago
      104 Litre Hydrazine Propellant Tank: Model OST 31/0. Seriously...google...thats all it takes these days is google. Are people realy so stupid they cant figure this simple stuff out?
    • whosaidwhat
      whosaidwhat  •  Irvine, California  •  5 mths ago
      must of came from either Lone Star or Princess Vespa's space ships...or maybe Dark Helmet's ship...
      • Meghan
        Meghan 5 mths ago
        Yogurt! I hate Yogurt! Even with strawberries!
    • Pat
      Pat  •  Kingman, Arizona  •  5 mths ago
      When Nasa and "other" official agencies say they don't know, but they have been "raining" from the sky for 20 years..it does make you wonder..are the folks there REALLY rocket scientists ?
    • HolyShinto
      HolyShinto  •  Rockville, Maryland  •  5 mths ago
      Chuck Norris should return that ball to where it came from and warn the sender not to us another ball.
    • GOD
      GOD  •  5 mths ago
      I think Galileo lost that when he dropped it off of the Tower of Pisa.
    • Graybeard
      Graybeard  •  Houston, Texas  •  5 mths ago
      The Mythbusters are in Namibia????
    • Human same as you
      Human same as you  •  5 mths ago
      We'll probably never know the truth now that NASA got a hold of it. :-(
    • rem1967
      rem1967  •  5 mths ago
      We need to open it and see what's inside. The combination is 1 2 3 4 5.
    • Damn You
      Damn You  •  5 mths ago
      They are launched at Earth by aliens as a precursor to their invasion. The balls are filled with 'Stupid'..... seems to be working so far...... Good Luck Retards!!!!!!!!!!
    • rob
      rob  •  5 mths ago
      well, the information is all there...the size and weight of the ball, the size of the crater, we don't know what the ground is like [hard packed or loose] but with a little math one can determine approximately how hard the ball hit the ground, which would suggest that it probably came from near by, and not dropped or fallen from space. it would have made a crater much larger than 12 ft X 1 ft if it had.
    • christian
      christian  •  Seattle, Washington  •  5 mths ago
      Call Joe Dirt, he may know what it is.
    • AL
      AL  •  Fallon, Nevada  •  5 mths ago
      So that Space Ball that fell on Nambia? Space Balls usually do stuff, but fall on Nambia? Yeah well, one place to Vaporise and Melt is as good as another. Look, never Believe anything that falls from Outer Space. You don't know where that Space has been. Now do you, admit it. Then go around picking it up with your fingers? Do that with everything else too? Oh I see, look see. Monkeys throw poop at Mirrors, so do Humans, only difference is that Humans write on the walls first, well so do the Monkeys, but ya can read Human's at least, and no matter WHAT it says, IT still stinks!! Probably that bag of tools that that "Lady Astronaught" Lost IN Space. NASA doesn't know where it is, but they assured me, and I felt assured yes siree, that that tool bag is still "up there" for how long is anyone's clue, as this woman musta thought she was Curling, and whoops, oh no, anybody check her green card? To see if she was from Canada? You know how hard it is for Canada to hold on to stuff when it's Drunk. That's how we got New York right, and LOL they got the French OMG LOL. Explains alot huh? Now you know what that stink is, and where it's coming from: Someone in Canada is teaching the French how to write.
      Oh I'm sorry was it Space Blob? Did I really get it so wrong? Space Blobs that appeared Ball Like? That offend anyone? anyone? anyone? No o.o.ok, good love to be PC about Space Trash. If ya'd clean it up I would have nothing to make fun of, now would I? Hint Hint Hint, How ya going have Light Tunnel Craft that go Moon mining if ya got all that trash in the way? What you think this is your guy'zes ROOM? We seen your rooms, and they are Nothin Nice, explains space trash real easy also.
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