I asked Johnathan McDowell, who tracks space objects alongside his main job working on Chandra. He's much less convinced it's from a rocket.
https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3leq2wb...
There's not any great candidates.
https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3leq2wb...
There's not any great candidates.
The eyewitnesses describe that the object fell with a high velocity, with a loud noise, and was hot when it landed.
The better angles in the video [1] show molten metal on the outside, and a typical aerospace bolt pattern with carefully machined pockets around the bolts.
This kind of construction is typical in rockets, for example at the top and the bottom flanges of some stages of the Indian PSLV rocket [2]
[1] https://youtu.be/Wr1t8CE1FpQ?t=60 [2] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/PSLV_C50...
https://old.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/1bmpxaq/t...
I'm not sure why it makes the 'chuffing' noise though. Anyone know?
M-V (Japan) Epsilon (Japan) Athena (US) Rokot (USSR) Soyuz-U (USSR) Soyuz-FG (Russia) Simorgh (Iran) ... many more
There are a comical number of options with parts that have a diameter somewhere in the 2.3-2.7m range.