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What was the fireball over New Zealand?
Summary
A bright object seen across New Zealand on 5 January 2019 turned out to be a Russian military satellite, Moscow confirmed on 10 January.
What was the fireball that lit up the sky over much of New Zealand? By 14 January 2019, the question had an answer from Moscow. On 10 January, Russia confirmed that the object seen on 5 January was its Kosmos 2430 missile early warning satellite, launched in 2007.
What the satellite was
Kosmos 2430 was a US-K missile early warning satellite, part of the Russian Space Forces' Oko programme. It was designed to identify missile launches using optical telescopes and infrared sensors.
What the confirmation meant
The confirmation tied a widely witnessed event over New Zealand to a specific spacecraft: a military early warning satellite that had been in orbit since 2007. The fireball seen on 5 January was the satellite itself, and Russia's statement on 10 January settled the identification.
For readers in Kyiv and across the region, the episode was a reminder of the long-running Russian early warning programme behind the satellite, whose purpose was detecting missile launches.
