Mystery as three huge steel spheres fall from sky leaving thousands terrified

Titanium alloy. Melting point somewhere about 1700°C.

Also a first stage of a rocket separates maybe at about 80 km and Mach 10 (it depends on the mission of course). So it is not that extreme as orbital reentry.

I think they've been cases where even carbon fiber wrapped tanks came down intact.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Crikey - I'm sure some of the Christmas puddings I was offered last would have survived. And they're spherical! lol

a reply to: onehuman

hydrazine or other fuel ball. i wouldn't be going near one at all. if it had some kind of hydrazine in it you would be having a very bad day unless you had a hydrazine space suite

originally posted by: tadaman
a reply to: onehuman

What the hell are they made out of! How are they not pancakes?

Wow. Even if man made, thats impressive.

Hydrazine fuel tanks made from high-quality Titanium. Designed to withstand high internal pressure and external vacuum, extreme cold and extreme heat, radiation.

There is a perforated stand pipe inside that goes from end to end. Internally the fuel is kept inside a bladder surrounding this stand pipe and pressurised gas is between the fuel tank and bladder. So each fuel tank is like a giant titanium football.

a reply to: stormcell

people wonder why we ha to take out that sat with simi full tanks with a SM-3. other than being a cool trick it could have done alot of damage

It is not hydrazine! It is Rogaine!!

Growing hair is space is easier, which is why they look like metal spheres (all the hair burnt up during re-entry). In low earth orbit, hair grows abundantly fast. Add some Rogaine to the picture... well, I'm sure xkcd will have a graphic showing how it all works!

The certainly informed me of "fruit colliders" the other day!!

They are worth a lot of money because of the titanium, so even if it lands on your property you don't get to keep them.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I've seen some fruitcakes that could be used as heat shields.

Thors testicles.

Here is another report on "metal spheres" on ATS: "5 UFO's crashland in China, entire area locked down by military with pics", which was sorted out to titanium fuel tanks by none other than Jim Oberg (post).

I also handed out a star to Phage for correctly pointing out that were not "flying" objects but "falling" objects!

Pretty nice trip down memory lane! I thought there was one report of metal spheres associated with a "floating city" (Africa, IIRC), but only found the China and Dubai threads on "floating cities" (another fun trip as well).

a reply to: stormcell

I thought it would be titanium. I want one.