Spectacular footage has shown an unidentified object burning up in the skies over Australia – with scientists believing it was most likely a Russian rocket.
Footage shows the object briefly illuminating the night sky over Melbourne yesterday, prompting some to speculate that it was a meteor.
A statement issued by the Australian Space Agency said: “We have determined the flashes of light seen across Melbourne skies overnight were likely the remnants of a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.”
Launch of the Soyuz-2 rocket had occurred from Plesetsk Cosmodrome earlier in the evening, the statement continued.
It added: “According to Russian authorities the launch placed a new generation ‘GLONASS-K2’ global navigation satellite into orbit.
“This launch was notified and remnants of the rocket were planned to safely re-enter the atmosphere into the ocean off the south-east coast of Tasmania.
“We will continue to monitor the outcomes of this re-entry with our Government partners.”
The information appears to tally with a statement issued by the Russian defence ministry in relation to a launch from Plesetsk spaceport, in Russia’s northwestern Arkhangelsk Region.
The ministry said: “The spacecraft was put into the designated orbit by a Fregat booster as scheduled and taken under the control of the Russian space forces’ ground means.
“The satellite’s onboard systems are operating routinely.
“The spacecraft was given the number Cosmos-2569.”
The Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket was launched without incident, the ministry added.
Russia has staged ten launches this year, three of them from Plesetsk.
