Comments on: Namibian Mystery

By: Lkowalskil

Lkowalskil — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 18:42:01 +0000

Who is conducting a scientific investigation of this puzzling episode?

Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia) is the author of this autobiography:

http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html

By: Art

Art — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:13:56 +0000

As I understand it hydrazine is so highly toxic that a whiff will kill you. Anyone care to enlighten me with the real world facts on hydrazine?

Sounds to me like people might want to maintain a respectful distance.

By: Joffan

Joffan — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 17:49:17 +0000

Hollow space balls, Batman!

Merry Christmas all. This is clearly a cosmic ornament.

(Great line Russell, and so widely applicable – stolen).

By: Russell

Russell — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:03:04 +0000

It’s clearly part of an alien spacecraft. For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.

😉

By: Chris P

Chris P — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:14:20 +0000

Here’s the link to the BoingBoing piece – http://boingboing.net/2011/12/22/strange-metal-sphere-that-fell.html

By: Chris P

Chris P — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:03:59 +0000

In the comments thread over on BoingBoing a commenter named Morcheeba says “I’m no expert, but looks an awful lot like a helium tank from a Russian Salyut 7-Cosmos 1686 (Kosmos 1686) spacecraft assembly. Here’s one that came down in 1991:
http://fernlea.tripod.com/tank.html
It perfectly matches the 3.6 feet in circumference and weighed 16 pounds instead of 13.”

photos at that link look like a perfect match.

By: djlactin

djlactin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:11:35 +0000

Mr Laden: I suggest that you change ‘1.1. diameter’ to match the description in the quote. “The hollow ball with a circumference of 1.1 metres (43 inches) … With a diameter of 35 centimetres (14 inches)”

On Yahoo! poster $ick Na$ty identified it as a
“104 Litre Hydrazine Propellant Tank: Model OST 31/0” but poster Timothy points out that 104[L]is too big, and opines that it’s a 39-L tank.However, if the circumferences is actually 110 cm, its maximum volume would be 22.5 L.
In any case, it appears to be some kind of propellant container.