Officers from the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command successfully recovered a metal sphere from the seabed off Phuket on May 17 that has now been confirmed to be a discarded fuel tank for a rocket, satellite or other object heading for, or already in, orbit.
Vice Admiral Cherngchai Chomcherngpat, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, explained that local fisherman first spotted the object in the shallows off ‘Koh Ael’ earlier this month.
Both the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency, or GISTDA, and the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, agree that the object was most likely a fuel tank for a rocket.
Since the fuel tanks usually contain harmful chemicals like ammonia or hydrogen, divers examined the space debris to make sure there were no chemical leaks before bringing the object to shore and taken to the navy headquarters. The space debris will be taken to the GISTDA to be studied. (NNT)
