Imagine when out of nowhere a 500 kg chunk of metal from space crashes into your neighbourhood. That actually happened.
On December 30, 2024, in Mukuku village, Makueni County, Kenya, pieces of a rocket came plummeting back to Earth. According to the Kenya Space Agency, the fragments are believed to be part of a rocket launched into space and somehow, they made their way back down, landing just meters away from homes.
It’s interesting to think about how something launched thousands of kilometres away could end up in someone’s backyard. For a lot of us, space exploration feels far off, something cool and futuristic, but this event shows just how connected we are to what happens above our planet.
We asked a few youth in our community some questions about space debris and here is what they had to say.
All three Space Youth Contributors brought up the idea that space sustainability isn’t just about making sure we don’t pollute space, it’s about protecting life here on Earth, too.
So what can we do? Some ideas include:
Designing reusable launch vehicles instead of single-use ones
Using materials that burn up completely upon re-entry
Tracking debris and directing it to safer landing zones like remote ocean areas
Creating new careers like space debris tracking specialists or space sustainability officers to manage this problem before it gets worse
Space is exciting and full of possibility, but it’s also a shared environment. And just like we’re learning to take care of our planet, we need to start thinking about how we take care of the space around it.
