Army: Mystery bang mid-air explosion

[PeteC]

Time for a good mystery! Does anyone recognize the debris from the photos on the link? Satellite, UFO, time traveler capsule? Pete


Army: Mystery bang mid-air explosion

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... osion-army

Published: 22/12/2011 at 04:11 PM
Online news: Security

The mysterious loud bangs heard near the Thai-Cambodian border in Si Sa Ket this morning were from an unidentified mid-air explosion, 2nd Army chief Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakhon on Thursday.

He said there three or four reports of loud bangs about 11am.

They occurred about 10,000 feet above tambon Sao Thongchai in Kantharalak district.

Metal debris was later found scattered over the area. No one was injured, Lt Gen Thawatchai said.

Two or three similar incidents had previously been reported in this area but the cause remained unknown. He did not believe the explosions indicated an attack by Cambodian troops.

The reports triggered panic in the communities in this border tambon as the villagers assumed it was another shelling by Cambodian artillery.

Shortly after the explosions were heard, a piece of metal about 1 metre long and half a metre wide was found in a field at Phumsarol Witthaya School, said Chokchai Saikaeo, president of tambon Sao Thongchai administration organisation.

The same school was hit by artillery fire during the fighting between Thai and Cambodian forces earlier this year.

Mr Chokchai also said several more bits of similarly burned yellowish metal were later found in nearby spots in the tambon.

Troops who went to investigate the reports said the metal debris could be from a satellite, reports said, but there was no confirmation.

According to Space.com, Russia's troubled, toxic fuel-loaded Phobos-Grunt spacecraft, which is stuck in low-Earth orbit due to an engine failure rather than on its way to Mars, appears to be doomed, with small pieces of the wayward probe already falling to Earth. There was no confirmation that the incident in Si Sa Ket was linked to this.

The satellite was expected to fall back to Earth in January.

[Nereus]

A bit hard to tell from those photos, but part of it appears to be from some type of pressure vessel going on the number of bolts holding on that round cover. Maybe a fuel tank from a rocket?
The smaller fitting on the same section appears like it was a take off point, or sensor connection. Weird!

[Nereus]

Maybe?
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Yutthasak: Border debris Asian satellite

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews ... parts-govt

The mysterious wreckage found near the Cambodian border in Si Sa Ket province on Thursday morning was from an unidentified Asian satellite, Defence Minister Gen Yutthasak Sasiprapa said on Friday.

The debris was found at the foot of the mountain where Preah Vihear temple is located.

It was not the remains of an exploded spy plane or an unmanned drone aircraft, as some reports had speculated, he said.

Army specialists had examined the debris and confirmed it was the remains of an unidentified Asian satellite./

This information had already been shared with Cambodia to ensure there was no misunderstanding.

A loud explosion was heard before bits of the mystery debris were found scattered in tambon Sao Thongchai, along the border. It triggered panic among local villagers, who were shelled during the Thai-Cambodian conflict earlier this year and feared that hostilities had resumed.


Second Army chief Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakhon said the wreckage appeared to be from a Chinese satellite that had self-destructed on command.

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Or this:
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NASA investigates 'space ball' found in Namibia

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/busine ... n-namibia/

A large, metallic ball has baffled authorities after being found in grassland in Namibia.

Dubbed ‘a space ball’, the hollow object was located near a village at the north of the country.

The 6kg ball was found in mid November and locals reported hearing several small explosions in the few days before.

It was found in a hole 33 centimetres deep and 3.8 meters wide.

According to police forensics director Paul Ludik, the sphere is made of a "metal alloy known to man”, has a rough surface and appears to consist of "two halves welded together".

NASA and the European space agency have been contacted about the find however have not yet announced what the mystery object is.

According to Discovery News, however, any space expert will recognise the mystery ‘space ball’.

They report it to be a ‘Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (or COPV for short) which basically means it’s a piece of space junk that has fallen from orbit.

Their function is to store gasses under pressure in space and is made of very tough material, hence why it remains intact on entry.

It’s not the first time an object such as this has been seen; in 2008 a similar object was found in Brazil and an Aussie farmer found one in the outback in 2007.

Regarding this ‘space ball’, NASA and the European Space Agency are still investigating which space mission this object has originated from.