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The mysterious light that illuminated Kiev/ It was suspected to be a NASA satellite, the Space Agency of Ukraine reacts

Politiko 2023-04-20 14:29:36

The mysterious light that illuminated Kiev/ It was suspected to be a NASA

A mysterious light that lit up the sky over the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday night created much speculation. Officials in Kiev initially suspected it was a NASA satellite falling to Earth, but the US space agency told the BBC it was still in orbit.

Ukrainian space officials later said the tremor probably came from a meteorite entering the atmosphere. The air force was adamant it was not a Russian airstrike - a well-known occurrence since the invasion last year.

The bright glow was spotted in the sky above the capital at around 10pm. An air raid alert was activated, but "air defense was not in action," the head of Kyiv's military administration, Serhiy Popko, said on Telegram.

Popko suggested it was caused by a NASA space satellite falling to Earth, referring to a retired 300 kg (660 lb) spacecraft that the space agency announced would re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday.

The RHESSI satellite, used to observe solar flares, was launched into low Earth orbit in 2002 and decommissioned in 2018, NASA said.

But Rob Margetta from NASA's communications office told the BBC that the satellite was still in orbit when the flash was observed and was due to re-enter Earth's atmosphere overnight.

Satellite tracking site Satflare indicated that RHESSI was nowhere near Ukraine at the time. Ukrainian media have been awash with theories and memes about what the flash could be, with a popular theme that it was caused by aliens.

But Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat told Ukrainian TV that the flash was also seen over neighboring Belarus to the north, and Ukraine's space agency said it was probably related to a space body entering the dense atmosphere.

Kiev officials said it was up to experts to determine what it was, but what was most important was the city's security.

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