A flash in the skies of Kiev, in the past few hours, has given way to a series of speculations and comments on social networks. At first the head of the military administration of the Ukrainian capital, Serhiy Popko, had explained that the air alarm that sounded in the capital and linked precisely to the glow was due to the “fall of a NASA space satellite”. Then, however, the spokesman of the Ukrainian air force, Yuri Ignat, said that the flash visible yesterday in Ukraine and “also in Belarus” was probably caused by a meteorite. “This flash was also seen in Belarus. Therefore, it was not so easy to find debris. I think the special services will deal with this, but maybe this body, a meteorite, “burned out in the atmosphere.”
The denial
As reported to the AFP news agency by a spokesman for the US space agency, no satellites were involved. “The re-entry has not yet taken place: Rhessi is still in orbit”, it was underlined, referring precisely to the satellite in question. “Nasa and the Department of Defense continue to monitor Rhessi, but no other NASA satellite has returned to the atmosphere today,” the source explained.
NASA reporting
In the hours preceding the reporting of the fall of a satellite on Kiev, in fact, NASA had signaled the possibility that its now “defunct” satellite, Rhessi, traveling in space for over 20 years recording over 100,000 solar events, could crash on the Earth during the night between Wednesday and Thursday, without however being able to provide a specific geographical location. The US space agency had also said that most of the satellite would be destroyed on its return journey in the atmosphere, also signaling that “some components” could have resisted the impact.
Source-tg24.sky.it