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Vietnam's military is investigating the appearance of three mysterious metal balls -- believed to be debris from space -- which landed in the country's remote north, a senior army official said Friday.
Two metal balls were discovered in northwestern Yen Bai province on January 2, army spokesman Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan told AFP.
Later a larger ball weighing some 45 kilograms (100 pounds) landed in a maize field in neighbouring Tuyen Quang province, he said.
"We are still identifying where they came from," he said, adding the army had determined they did not contain explosives or hazardous material.
The metal balls fell from the sky, he said, scaring local residents.
Seriously though, if they are hollow tanks, presumably with fairly thin walls, I would think they would burn upon re-entry. That sphere appears to be in very good shape. If it hit hard enough to make that crater I would expect to see some surface deflection at the very least.
originally posted by: TrueBrit
Some of those Spanish balls looked decidedly bedraggled.
Thanh Nien newspaper said that the initial investigation suggested the objects could have been made in Russia and come from missiles or spaceships.
Nguyen Khoa Son, a professor from the Vietnamese Space Science and Technology Program, told the VietnamNet news site that the balls might be the result of a failed satellite launch.
He said the balls did not appear to be damaged and could have fallen from an altitude of less than 100 kilometres (62 miles).
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Signals
Yes, there was a similar slew of incidents last year, although those tanks in the Vietnamese incident photos seem an awful lot more intact.
Some of those Spanish balls looked decidedly bedraggled.
originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Vroomfondel
Opposing winds slowing descent? Sudden updraft before impact? Angle of descent, incline of terrain, terrain type... Lots of variables for a hollow, metal coated spheroid heading to the surface.