Ashburton balls
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ashburton balls is the name given to an incident that occurred on April 3, 1972 in Ashburton, New Zealand. The incident involved the Russian space vessel Cosmos 482 which broke into four parts while attempting to leave earth on March 31, 1972, two of which remained in low orbit and eventually rained down on Earth. At 1 am on April 3, 1972, four red-hot 13.6kg titanium alloy balls landed within a 16km radius of each other, just outside Ashburton, New Zealand.[1]
The 38cm-diameter spheres scorched holes in crops and made deep indentations in the soil, but no one was injured. A similarly shaped object was discovered near Eiffelton, New Zealand, in 1978. Space law required that the space junk be returned to its national owner, but the Soviets denied knowledge or ownership of the balls. That left the farmer upon whose property the balls fell as the lucky owner. The balls were thoroughly analysed by New Zealand scientists which determined that they were Soviet in origin because of manufacturing marks and the high-tech welding of the titanium. The scientists concluded that they were probably gas pressure vessels of a kind used in the launching rocket for a satellite or space vehicle and had decayed in the atmosphere.
 This space- or space exploration-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This New Zealand-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
[edit] References
- ^ "New light on mysterious space balls", New Zealand Herald, 2002-08-24. Retrieved on October 8, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Space.com: Aussies, Kiwis Take Mir Deorbit in Stride 02:11 pm ET February 20, 2001
- Wired Magazine: Awaiting Mir's Crash Down Under 02:00 AM Feb, 19, 2001
